SMOR volunteer musicians set up for the evening's concert at St Michael Catholic Church

Our banner is in place to welcome guests.

With no rehearsal, Ben and the musicians make some final adjustments to the music that will be performed.

THANK YOU to VCU for providing much of the sheet music for our concert.

Ralph Skiano and Ben meet the incoming chair of the board of directors of United Way.

THANK YOU to the University of Richmond for donating percussion instruments for us to use.

Lynette, our harpist, arrived form NYC just in time to play a crucial role in Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet.

The concert begins, and Ben meets the musicians of the Richmond Symphony for the first time!

Ben asks to start the concert with no conductor at all...on a piece the orchestra has not played before! Thank goodness for our new concertmaster, Dice, who lead us through a respectable first performance.

Dice and Adrian lead us through the Overture without Ben!

This demonstrates that a team CAN do it without a leader! "There is more power in this orchestra than has been demonstrated, and the role of the leader is to find it, and release it!"

With a conductor on the podium, the power of the orchestra is released, and the room and FEEL the difference.

The music of WAR - brass, and percussion. The music of love - "The sexiest of all instruments, the English Horn and the violas!"

Clarinets and bassoons demonstrate two ways to play religious music - like an organ, and like a Russian men's choir!

There is Opera everywhere in the music of Mozart. Weeping, sighing, then joyful!

"Play it like you are really enjoying yourself"

"How many of you could hear 7 distinct voices at the same time?"

And the entire audience is singing along...IN GERMAN!!!

"Beethoven's music reminds us we are all brothers and sisters. In the spirit of Living United, we need to live more generously than we ever imagined we could." Donations for united way totaled nearly $3000.

Nimrod variation from Elgar's Enigma Variations was played with so much tenderness and power that it moved many in the room to tears - audience and musicians alike.

We hope the concert sparked a love of classical music in the hearts of some unsuspecting new friends in the audience.

Alana Carithers and a team of volunteer musicians created an amazing reception for our guests.

In honor of SMOR, we decided to do a Smores-themed reception. Musicians sure can bake yummy treats!

Ben leads a discussion after the reception for the audience and musicians to share their reactions to the experience. We could have talked all night long.