I'm currently have a classical music program for residents at a nursing home in New Rochelle,just north of New York . They're mostly elderly and infirm people who already enjoy classical music, and I play a wide variety of classical CDs for them, including many lesser-known but worthwhile works by a wide variety of composers.
I tell them about the composers and their works, giving them background information and some biographical information.
I play virtually anything from Baroque to contemporary music, orchestral music,chamber works, etc, and sometimes play excerpts from complete operas while telling them the plots. As well as the familiar masterpieces by Bach,Handel,
Haydn,Mozart,Beethoven, Schubert,and Brahms etc, I've also given them the chance to hear interesting off-beat repertoire by composers such as Roussel, Nielsen, Janacek, Szymanowski,Myaskovsky,Martinu,Berwald,Korngold,Balakirev, Medtner,
Pfitzner,Franz Schmidt, etc and even contemporary composers such as Carter,Boulez, Glass, etc.
They really enjoy my program. I usually have between six and a dozen residents at each session, but I'm always trying to get more to come, with fitful results.
Previously,I did a similar program at United Cerebral Palsy on Long Island where I used to live,and my audience was often considerably larger.
I'm hoping to expand my programs to ther venues,such as public schools and libraries or elsewhere,this time trying to reach people who know little or nothing about classical music.