The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is not the only orchestra in Australia’s second-largest city, but it very nearly was. Orchestra Victoria, a smaller ensemble which plays in the pit for local ballet and opera companies, and has struggled mightily in recent years, was at risk of folding or being swallowed up by the MSO when its supporters decided to try a new direction in order to save the ensemble. The result is something almost unheard of in the professional music world: an orchestra which performs free concerts, backed by local civic and charitable organizations, and which brings music to its audience, rather than expecting the audience to come to them.