The Old Dominion University Chamber Orchestra will take classical music to the masses when it kicks off its fall/winter tour this month.

The group of 35 musicians and singers opens the tour with a performance on campus at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 29, in Chandler Recital Hall of the Diehn Fine and Performing Arts Center.

They will also give free performances at the Salvation Army Community Center near Military Circle Dec. 2, the Union Mission in downtown Norfolk Dec. 5, Virginia Union University Dec. 6 and Thomas Nelson Community College Jan. 17.

The performances are designed to build interest in classical music among audiences that might not have been exposed to it before, said Amadi Hummings, director and assistant professor of music .

"All the pieces we're playing have an impact," Hummings said. "I can just imagine how it might spark something in whoever is hearing it for the very first time. It might be a desire to find out much more about classical music or music in general. Music can be very uplifting."

The group will play a program including Beethoven's "Egmont Overture," excerpts from the Bizet opera, "Carmen," excerpts from Mozart's "Mass in C Minor" and the adagietto from Mahler Symphony No. 5.

Under Hummings, the orchestra has seen something of a rebirth. Its debut came a year ago with performances at the Norfolk Botanical Garden, the Salvation Army Center and the Norfolk Boys and Girls Clubs, the first time a university chamber orchestra had actively performed in 16 years. The orchestra also conducted a tour last spring.

This year's orchestra is composed of as many as 35 players, depending on the piece they're playing, and features primarily Old Dominion music students. Also in the group are other campus musicians, area high school students and a high school teacher.

The Mozart and Bizet pieces will feature three vocal music students - sopranos Jennifer Holmes and Anwei Kilgore and mezzo-soprano Taryn Mulford - from the music department.

Like the rest of the orchestra members, they're getting continued exposure to music by being part of the group.

"The students need experience," Hummings said. "They begin to realize that music making is different each time. They'll feel differently about a piece the second and third time they play it. It allows you to become more free with the music."