Vermont’s new orchestra plays with elegance

By JIM LOWE Times Argus Staff

BURLINGTON — Vermont now has a second professional orchestra. At its final concert of its first season on June 21 at the University of Vermont Recital Hall, the 22-member string orchestra proved a fine addition to the state’s growing musical scene.

The Burlington Chamber Orchestra, directed by Michael Hopkins, was heard in musically rewarding performances of works by Handel, Vivaldi, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky, exhibiting a real joy of music throughout. The concert also introduced two young violinists, winners of the BCO’s Young Artist Solo Competition.

The BCO has become the state’s second professional orchestra, after the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. In fact, at least seven BCO players are regular members of the VSO. Cellist John Dunlop, a Jericho resident, is principal cellist of both orchestras. The BCO, though, is a string orchestra (though for one of its concerts next season will add woodwinds) and smaller, and has its own repertoire.

There was no feeling of small in Saturday’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s famous “C Major Serenade, Opus 48.” The string sound was broad and rich and, led by Hopkins, the orchestra played the work with depth, passion and understanding. The performance, as were all of Saturday’s, was traditional in style, but Hopkins delivered every emotion of the work — and there are many — with sensitivity and elegance. Although not always precise, the performance truly sang — which is what Tchaikovsky is all about.

Hopkins, the orchestra’s founder and music director, is associate professor of music at UVM and conducts the UVM Orchestra. With a Ph.D. in music education from the University of Michigan, he is also a bass player and a composer, whose compositions have been performed by several Vermont organizations.

Saturday’s concert also introduced two young violinists as soloists. Anna Landell of Richmond, who just finished her sophomore year of home-schooling, and Sally Bruce, who just finished her sophomore year at Champlain Valley Union High School, performed Vivaldi’s “Concerto for Two Violins, in a minor, Opus 3, No. 8,” with Hopkins in the BCO. (They are both students of the BCO’s concertmaster, Ira Morris.) Although, in a work like this, it was impossible to judge the violinists individually, their performance was accurate, elegant and with a very natural musicality. The two handled the interplay with real intimacy, and performed unpretentiously with poise. It will be interesting to follow these two.

The gem of the concert was Mendelssohn’s beautifully lyrical “Sinfonia No. 5.” Written by the composer when he was in his early teens, the work is effervescent and unpretentiously beautiful. The first and last movements, allegro vivace and presto, were delivered with clarity and passion, with just the right amount of reserve, while the slow movement, andante was played with warm lyricism. Again, they sang.

The concert opened with Handel’s “Concerto Grosso, Opus 6, No. 4,” a rich and uplifting work. Hopkins and the BCO were using contemporary instruments, but successfully mixed what is presently considered to be period style with a more romantic lyricism. The result was simultaneously deft and rich, eminently satisfying.

Playing to packed house, the BCO is developing into one fine orchestra.