Orchestra Strives Toward New Goals

The Middlebury College Orchestra has experienced its fair share of ups and downs since its inauguration one hundred years ago. Most recently, low student participation led to the cancellation of orchestra in the spring of 2014. This past fall, however, conductor Andrew Massey rebuilt the group, filling many of its seats with dedicated first-year students. With the new spring semester in full swing, the orchestra has undergone a revival of sorts, with an increased focus on bonding between members and plans to expand the ensemble’s influence across campus.

These initiatives to reshape the College Orchestra were spearheaded in large part by cellist Nimrod Sadeh ’17.5, who first proposed the idea of creating an official, student-led Orchestra Board near the end of J-term. The idea was met with much enthusiasm from both Massey and the players. Since then, weekly meetings between head of the Board Sadeh, treasurer Gioia Pappalardo ’16.5, social chairs Jigar Bhakta ’18, Eliane Helitzer ’18 and Erin Work ’18 and media and advertising chair Toni Cross ’18 have been devoted to revamping the orchestra’s mission, image and internal structure.

“The purpose of this is for the orchestra to be a cohesive social group rather than just a group of strangers that meets to rehearse twice a week,” Sadeh explained. “We’re trying to model ourselves on athletic teams or a capella groups.”

The Orchestra Board is currently drafting an official constitution in order to gain the recognition of the SGA. Its members, who jokingly dub themselves “the musical chairs,” have several ideas in store to enhance intersection relations, increase campus awareness of concerts and improve the performance level of the ensemble. With Massey’s support, the Board hopes to set up an early-arrival orientation for members in the fall in order to foster more group bonding and get a head start on rehearsing major pieces for the first concert. Helitzer and Work are planning to organize more social events outside of rehearsal, as well as field trips to orchestra concerts in Boston, Burlington or New York City. Additionally, Cross is overseeing both the Middlebury College Orchestra Facebook page and logistics for student-designed orchestra T-shirts.

Massey wholeheartedly stands behind the Board’s goals for the upcoming semesters, especially since he took on the time-consuming roles of orchestra leader, librarian and personnel manager until the Board’s creation.

“It makes it much more enjoyable from my point of view, because I don’t do everything,” he said. “No one person who’s part-time, living 100 miles away, could do all this.”

In the past few years, a traditional sign-up sheet has been unable to attract a sufficient number of student players to the orchestra. As a result, Massey has turned to a more active recruitment process, seeking out musicians beforehand and inviting them to audition. During the past school year, student numbers have fluctuated considerably, hitting a low in J-Term and reaching a peak of approximately 40 members.

“Student content in the orchestra is much more fluid. It changes much faster than it used to,” he said. “More and more people have obligations they can’t get out of. People keep sending me notes saying, ‘I wish I could do this, but…’”

Massey has led the orchestral program at the College since 2009, following conducting stints with the Cleveland Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Vermont Youth Orchestra and much more. Though he makes it a point to find a place in the orchestra for all interested student players, over the years, he has found it to be increasingly difficult to maintain a full, continuous ensemble, leading him to recruit outside musicians. As such, the J-Term orchestra production of Eroica, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, involved an eclectic mix of students, staff, hired professionals and community members.

Despite the smashing success of the Eroica performance, overall, the lack of student involvement has created challenges for certain sections, which must work harder to make themselves heard over the rest of the orchestra. Sadeh used to be the lone student cellist, requiring greater accountability as a musician.

“You can’t allow yourself to make mistakes,” he said. “You really need to be solid and hold up your part as the only cello.”

Though there remains much to be done to transform the orchestra into a bigger, stronger and more cohesive force on campus, Massey and members alike acknowledge the unique treasure that they hold. This past year’s stellar repertoire, which encompasses Brahms, Beethoven, Mozart, Rossini, Haydn and more, has provided students with an incredible array of musical opportunities.

“I think that the music scene at Middlebury doesn’t really include classical music, so playing in the orchestra is a great way for me to perform this kind of music with other people,” violinist Ben Tindall ’17.5 said.

Even Massey hesitated to choose a favorite from the esteemed repertoire of the past year.

“I try to be an equal-opportunity adorer of the music,” he said.

He cited the students’ musical intuition as a key factor behind his passion for conducting at the College.

“Very often with a professional orchestra, the people can play all the notes immediately,” he said. “But getting them to play a certain way, with a certain phrasing and architecture, can be quite difficult. Whereas here, to some degree, the players aren’t that skilled. They’re not professional-level players. I mean, a few are close, but generally speaking, you can’t take for granted that they can play all the notes. But they get the idea much more quickly. And that I find very, very enjoyable.”

Despite the challenges of this year, members of the orchestra have found plenty of reason to laugh, smile and bond over the delicious array of snacks that Massey provides during each rehearsal break. Unity between sections may still be a work in progress, but there is certainly no shortage of close friendships that have arisen from the shared experience of music-making.

Cross expressed hope for a more campus-wide appreciation for orchestra performances.

“At the end of the day, the musicians in orchestra are your friends and classmates,” she said. “I’ve never talked to anyone who regretted coming to an orchestra concert. We work very hard at and outside of rehearsal to sound the best we possibly can, and it would be fantastic if more people could hear and enjoy our efforts. As ambitious as it sounds, I want people to come out and support the orchestra the same way they support sports teams.”

With large-scale concerts scheduled for mid-April, it will soon be clear how the new measures will impact the ensemble’s popularity on campus. While it is uncontested amongst members that the orchestra is one of the greatest hidden gems on campus, as the Board relieves Massey of some of his administrative struggles and implements change from within, perhaps even brighter days are soon to come.