The New London Community Orchestra offers an array of services to benefit the community, including free violin and cello lessons to children in grades 4 through 12.

The lessons are held at the Magnet School in New London and benefit dozens of children each year. The lessons are year round, including a six-week summer program.

The 44-member ensemble is all volunteer, and is a creative outlet for local talent.

The orchestra welcomes musicians of all levels and backgrounds.

The youths play one piece per concert with the adults. In the upcoming concert at 7:30 p.m. June 8 at Connecticut College, all participants will combine their skills to share the first female African American piece to have ever been published, Florence Price’s “Dances in the Canebrakers. Silk, Hat, and Walking Cane.”

For children to contribute to the orchestra by playing in each concert indicates great time and effort invested in each young musician.

Exposing kids at an early age to the harmony among percussion, brass, woodwind and string results in a sense of refinement and accomplishment. Some students have gone on to play in the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra.

The orchestra was founded in 2011 by Tom Clark and Joan Winters and is now directed by Hilarie Clark Moore.

Rehearsals are held at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays at the St. James Church, 76 Federal St. in New London.

The next concert is at Evans Hall in the Cummings Art Center at Conn. Concerts are free. For information, email Tom Clark at newlondonorchestra@gmail.com.

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