Music at Hamilton
Orchestra
The Hamilton College Orchestra (HCO) typically includes 45-50 college students and community members. The Orchestra rehearses on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and performs at least twice a semester. Membership is by audition at the beginning of the academic year. The focus is on giving student instrumentalists the experience of learning and performing great orchestral music at a high level, and on developing the level of ensemble skills and musicianship that are essential for orchestral playing. HCO frequently features advanced student musicians as concerto soloists.
HCO has recently been part of several exciting collaborations, including a fully staged production of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker ballet with Utica Dance, a performance of Mendelssohn's Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream with women of College Hill Singers and student narrators from the Theatre Department, and West Side Story with the Theatre Department.
The College's current COVID-19 policy requires students and employees to be fully vaccinated, unless they have an approved religious or medical exemption, and to be up to date on booster shots for which they are eligible.
Depending on local conditions and at the discretion of the instructor, masking and some social distancing may be required in department ensembles and lessons.
Performances and Programs
Sound Files
Recent Repertoire (last 6 years)
Dvorák Symphony No. 7
Florence Price Symphony No. 1
Márquez Danzón No. 2
Bruch Kol NIdrei for cello and orchestra
Schubert Symphony No. 8
Grieg Norwegian Dances
Borodin In the Steppes of Central Asia
Dvorák Serenade for Strings
Grieg Holberg Suite (strings)
Respighi Ancient Airs and Dances Suite I (strings)
Gounod Petite Suite (winds)
Beethoven and Reinecke Octets for Winds
Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals
Beethoven Symphony No. 5
Brahms Symphony No. 3 in F Major
Bernstein West Side Story – complete Broadway show
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 1, Winter Dreams
Sibelius Finlandia
Haydn Trumpet Concerto
Mendelssohn Complete Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream
Bruch Romance for Viola and Orchestra
Schubert Symphony No. 9 in C Major, The Great
Fanny Mendelssohn Overture in C Major
Dvorák Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, From the New World
Ives Symphony No. 2, 2nd Mvt.
Brahms Tragic Overture
Philip Glass The Light
Schumann Symphony No. 4 in D Minor
Sibelius Symphony No. 2 in D Major
Telemann Suite in A Minor for Flute and Strings
Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor
Mozart Symphony No. 36 in C Major, Linz
Dvorák Czech Suite
Tchaikovsky Nutcracker complete ballet
Brainstorm!
The Orchestra’s Brainstorm! Concert, performed every March, takes advantage of the Orchestra’s liberal arts environment to explore interdisciplinary themes focusing on connections between the arts and other areas. Recent programs have included:
- Florence Price's Symphony No. 1 – bridging the classical tradition and Black musical identity
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare’s play and Mendelssohn’s Incidental Music
- New World Symphony – the impact of Dvorák’s 9th Symphony on the American music scene
- Landscape Music – an environmental reading of Sibelius Symphony No. 2
- A Devil to Play: the Horn and Its Subculture – music of Webern, Mozart, and Brahms
- Reverberations Over Time – hybrids of multiple musical styles in music of Haydn and Respighi
- The Creative Spark: Origins of Genius – Brahms’ and Stravinsky’s early works and influences
- Kinesthetic Sound – the sensation of movement/kinetic energy as an essential aspect of music
- Apollo’s Muse: the Classical Ideal – Apollonion versus Dionysian qualities in music of Mozart, Debussy, and Stravinsky
- A Sense of Time – how music of different periods reflects its era’s conception of time
ORchestra DIRECTOR
Heather Buchman is director of the Hamilton College Orchestra and Chamber Music program. She has served as Education and Outreach Conductor for Symphoria, Syracuse’s professional orchestra. She has developed numerous innovative programs for both Symphoria and
the orchestral and chamber programs at Hamilton College, including the Brainstorm! concert series, the Sight / Sound / Spoken collaborative chamber music and spoken word salons, and the Chamber Music Crawl in Schambach Center for the Performing Arts. She appears frequently as conductor and trombonist with the Society for New Music and other organizations.
Heather has done a wide range of collaborative work with theatre, dance, and multimedia. Her work in arts advocacy has been recognized by the Society for New Music and Civic Morning Musicals, and currently serves as President of SNM.
She completed professional studies in conducting at the Juilliard School, and earned a M.M. in orchestral conducting from the University of Michigan, and a B. Mus. degree in trombone from the Eastman School of Music. More recent studies include workshops in St. Petersburg, Russia, and as well as classes and workshops in ballet.
Heather served as Principal Trombonist of the San Diego Symphony from 1988-1997. She won prizes at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, Germany and the New York Philharmonic Young Artists Concerto Competition; she continues to be professionally active as a trombonist.
Applications and Auditions
Submitting a Recording With Your College Application
Experienced orchestral instrumentalists (violin, viola, cello, bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, classical saxophone, trumpet, horn, trombone, tuba, harp, and percussion) applying to Hamilton College are encouraged to submit a recording as part of their application. Music recordings for applications to the College are submitted online with your application, and shared with the appropriate faculty member for review. Please include two musical works (or movements of works) that demonstrate contrasting styles, and that best show your musical abilities.
Auditions for Orchestra and Chamber Ensembles
Auditions for both Orchestra and Chamber Ensembles take place the day before classes start. Both new and returning students need to audition at the beginning of every year. A signup sheet will be posted as a Google document, and the link will be emailed to all students before Orientation. Students who wish to join Orchestra or chamber groups in the spring semester can email Heather Buchman to schedule an audition.
