IRMO, S.C. — Classical musicians from the South Carolina Philharmonic brought their instruments and tunes to new locations this week.
The orchestra group is piloting a new immersive outreach program called "Music in My Neighborhood," where small ensembles bring their music to schools, parks, hospitals, businesses and community centers.
On Friday, the group played at the Columbiana Centre Mall, and folks got to try their hand at conducting the musicians.
"We're here to kind of take our music to everywhere else in the community and take that barrier down, especially for our first-time listeners who might have never gone to an orchestra concert," said Morihiko Nakahara, the SC Philharmonic music director.
Nakahara said they hope this neighborhood program is the first of many.
"My granddaughter is in the band, she's in the Irmo High School marching band, so she's very much into music, she's learning different instruments and so I've gotten into it too, while she's been doing it, really fun," said Loretta Demko, one of the listeners at Friday's performance.
On Saturday, the orchestra hosted a free concert at the Irmo Community Park amphitheater to end the series.
The orchestra will be out an about from its regular venue at the Koger Center in late April and early May, playing Music On Main and a Chamber Crawl at various breweries in Columbia. Check out the performance calendar here.