Bassist Lisa Burns ... likes the contrast she gets in classical music after playing outside of Hewlett-Packard with her own bluegrass band, Sidesaddle & Co. She feels classical music improves the other side of her playing.

...principal conductor George Yefchak, whose day job is in [Agilent Technologies'] chemical and biological systems department, is a little nervous about the undulating personnel. "The first cellist is sight-reading the concert," he whispers.

Afterwards, the modest crowd applauds enthusiastically. "I loved it. I've heard them from the beginning," says human resources specialist Carol Campbell. "They were always good, but they've improved so much."