Concert Hall, QPAC
May 12, 2018

Nowadays, Barber’s Violin Concerto is a concert staple. Commissioned by Samuel Fels, the work had a difficult birth. Fels was highly critical of Barber’s efforts, but was perhaps over protective because the concerto was intended for his son to perform. Regardless, Barber copped hefty, sometimes irreconcilable, feedback. At one stage, Fels complained it wasn’t virtuosic enough in the first two movements, but, overly so in the third, a perpetuum mobile, where the soloist drives pointy triplets, at immense speed along treacherous highways.

Chad Hoopes

The Orava Quartet and concert pianist Piers Lane sported snazzy socks on stage. Chad Hoopes, the 23-year-old concerto soloist, stepped out in glittery shoes that irresistibly glistered under stage lights. Eye-catching sparklers, befitting a player The Washington Post cited as, “hurtling toward international stardom.”Anyhow, the audience weren’t watching Hoopes’ feet, at least not in the first and second movements, because Hoope’yearning violin soared, sang, sobbed and whispered in stunning tone. The second movement’s introductory oboe solo beautifully executed by Sarah Meagher and later reprised by solo violin was ideal as a vehicle for Hoopes to showcase his exquisite tone and heartfelt sentiment. In the...