by Peter Feher
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has an advantage when it comes to commanding a crowd. The ensemble of scarcely more than a dozen string players performed for a packed Blossom Music Center on August 27 and seemed entirely at home in the huge venue. Saturday’s concert brought the summer classical season here to a close in understated yet completely gripping fashion.
And the Orpheus effect has everything to do with who’s not onstage. The New York City-based group has rehearsed and performed without a conductor since its founding in 1972, and this means its members share the musical authority that typically rests with one person. Multiplied by a dozen or so, the interpretation of a piece suddenly emanates from every player, from the concertmaster to the double bass, resonating with a kind of collective power. [Read more…]
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the New York-based conductorless ensemble, joined violinist Augustin Hadelich in an impressive program of string music by Irving Fine, Haydn, Schubert, and Tchaikovsky at Akron’s E.J. Thomas Hall on Wednesday evening, March 28. Their assured playing on the Tuesday Musical series proved that you don’t always need a baton-wielding leader out in front to inspire an excellent sense of ensemble — though sometimes it can be a good idea from an interpretational point of view.
