Symphony on Tap is not your typical orchestra concert. There might be 65 musicians in the house, and you might be listening to Wagner, Sibelius, and Berlioz, but just about everything else is different. First of all, you are in an old textile mill that was built for work, not music. Next to you are people standing at high-top tables, holding drinks and eating food, even talking a bit to each other. And then there’s the red carpet with a symphony logo step and repeat where people are taking selfies.

“No stage, no seats, no rules – just fun,’ is how we like to describe it,” explains New Bedford Symphony President and CEO Dave Prentiss. “This is our third Symphony on Tap concert and it has brought hundreds of new people to classical music and the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra. People love to be able to stand right next to the orchestra, wrapped around the musicians from the percussion section on one side to the bass section on the other side.”

Music Director Yaniv Dinur leads the orchestra and introduces each piece of music, along with a joke or two. He also offers the audience a “killer offer” if they act within the next 12 hours. Using a QR code handed out at the event, people can attend the symphony’s next three subscription concerts for the price of one. Seventy-two people took him up on his offer. Another QR code sends people to a playlist where they can hear the evening’s program again (and again). Mussorgsky, Bernstein, Elgar, Orff, Bizet, and Williams round out the concert line-up. (You can find the playlist here.)

Just over 400 people attended this year’s Symphony on Tap, about half of whom were new to the symphony, according to Prentiss. “We reach out to them after the concert and pay special attention to our new friends. We follow up with special events where they can meet our musicians, hear some live music in a smaller setting, and get to know us. Building a new audience for classical music is a process, with many small, personal steps to it.”

With Symphony on Tap, the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra seems to be off on the right foot. Plans are already in the works for this event to be part of the 2023-2024 season.