COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Orchestra members who come to perform at the Ohio Theatre say that nothing compares to those live shows.

“Our art is really, most honestly, digested live,” said Joanna Frankel, with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.

Frankel is the concertmaster for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and says she’s absolutely thrilled over the fact that they’ll be able to play for a larger audience again.

“We’ve had just you know a very small number of people in the audience, but you know, any person in that audience, you’re really giving your all for. And then you can imagine the more people in the audience, the more excited you must feel,” said Frankel.

For the past few months, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra has held virtual or severely limited in-person events.

But with the governor’s announcement that indoor capacity can be increased to 25 percent, Columbus Symphony Orchestra members are prepared to start playing in front of larger crowds of up to 675 people.

“So the musicians have been playing onstage with all kinds of barriers up, we’ve had to build plexiglass things to separate them. There’s a certain amount of social distance they have to be based on the instrument they play,” said Denise Rehg, executive director of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.

The CSO says due to strict social distancing and mask wearing policies, audiences will also be separated into groups, of those who purchase tickets together.

But the musicians say all of these changes are worth it, for them to be able to perform live.

“Orchestra’s it’s an ensemble that’s playing together, so all of these things really can serve to keep us apart. But we’re getting, I think we’ve gotten really good at it, where we’re really dedicated to just bringing that music to our audiences no matter what we have to do,” said Frankel.

Once renovations are complete at the Ohio Theatre, the CSO says they plan to have a series of larger in-person concerts over the spring and summer.