The New York–based Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has achieved something unique in the world of contemporary classical music performance. There are plenty of chamber orchestras performing without the benefit of a conductor, but Orpheus, which has been in continuous operation since 1972, has taken this concept and created a distinct musical identity with it, something that few if any of these other ensembles have been able to do. Through a democratic process resembling that employed by a graduate faculty or a research institution, members rotate through multiple leadership positions on a regular basis, and every player is expected to participate in the development of the ensemble’s programming. With a Grammy, two ASCAP awards, and more than 70 recordings, Orpheus has established itself as the world’s most successful chamber orchestra formed on this model. For its upcoming Santa Barbara performance, the group will be joined by Augustin Hadelich, who plays the 1723 “Ex-Kiesewetter” Stradivarius.
In anticipation of their show, I spoke with violist Dov Scheindlin. He filled me in on the logic behind the program and the mission of the group.
How did you select the works for this program? One theme that ties this program together is the idea of pieces that have been repurposed. The Stravinsky began as a ballet, and for The Birds, Respighi took works by five different baroque composers, all of them based on birdsong, and arranged them for chamber orchestra. Fortunately for us, he wrote this piece for an ensemble of exactly the size of Orpheus, and although the works he was drawing on are different, through his arrangement he was able to create something that coheres. He viewed these compositions — a prelude, and then “The Dove,” “The Hen,” “The Nightingale,” and “The Cuckoo” — very much through the prism of the music of his own time, which was the late 1920s. In this piece, Respighi employs virtually every technique of orchestration known to that period, and the result is extraordinary.