You don’t have to sell out the Georgia Dome or Philips Arena to find happiness in the faces of a crowd; you can find it volunteering and sharing your music with those in need.

Jamie Balmer and Joseph Ricker are a group known as Duo Orfeo, a classical guitar music group from Massachusetts.

They volunteered their time and musical talent Sunday afternoon to bring happiness to those at the Good News at Noon homeless shelter in Gainesville.

“I really love it. I love sharing music with people and uplifting them, whoever they are,” Ricker said.

Having performed at Piedmont College on Saturday night and First Presbyterian Church in Gainesville on Sunday morning, Balmer praised the ProMusica Concert Series for setting up events like the concert at Good News at Noon.

“You get a very different crowd than you would at a concert at 7 p.m. You get a lot of kids, which is great. It’s just wonderful playing for different groups of people,” Balmer said.

“It’s really wonderful that an organization like ProMusica is setting these kinds of events up.”

Thomas Ramirez from Good News at Noon emphasized that the kids who attended the concert were impressed with the different style of music the duo played.

“They asked ‘When can we bring them back?’ ... If they’re asking that, then they enjoyed it,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez said he also was impressed and appreciative that a group would come from Massachusetts to play for
the shelter.

“To come from so far away, humble themselves, to give us the joy and happiness of their music and talent, I’m so glad they chose us,” Ramirez said.

According to Jack Bell, executive director of the ProMusica Concert Series, the performance is part of its ongoing community outreach efforts.

“This is something that we do from our heart,” he said. “This is something that we do as a Christian organization. It’s an outreach. It’s part of the philosophy of ProMusica to do outreaches of all sorts.”

Without fundraising to support the organization, Bell said it relies on donations, and its focal point has become children and those in the greatest need.

“We’re out producing concerts for the people in the greatest need that would never be able to have this experience and for children who would never have this experience,” Bell said.