The VSO audience was moved by the performances of Gemma New and Augustin Hadelich

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New Zealand conductor Gemma New made an impressive debut conducting the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in an exceptionally well-thought-out program on Friday night at the Orpheum.

New has led the Hamilton Philharmonic for a while, but it’s clear she’s ready to move on to the next level of assignments with guest conducting concerts in Vancouver and Seattle later this month.

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A good part of New’s success is his programming prowess. Holst’s The Planets was the highlight of the program and proved to be a convincing demonstration of New’s style with a classic for extra large orchestra. The VSO broadcasts The Planets with considerable frequency. And judging by the near-full capacity of Friday’s Musically Speaking show, there’s always an audience for Holst’s biggest hit. New delivered it quickly, although, to tell the truth, we have heard the orchestra play with greater precision and verve. Not that it mattered: the audience loved what they heard.

It was the first half of the program that distinguished New from many other VSO guests. Choosing an exclusively British program was playing to the strengths of her repertoire, but starting with a contemporary work, Die Windsbraut, by London-based Alissa Firsova, was a stroke of genius. The VSO has delivered a great smorgasbord of contemporary short works by women in recent times; many have proven to be mediocre (at best). But Firsova’s piece is absolutely first-rate, a neo-expressionist element suggested by the famous painting of Alma Mahler in the arms of her former lover, the painter Oskar Kokoschka. Firsova is no stranger to a big, colorful orchestra, and her astute references to the sound world of early 20th-century Vienna were spot on. This was music one wanted to hear again and kudos to New for bringing it to us.

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The highlight of the concert, however, in every possible sense, was New’s productive collaboration with violinist Augustin Hadelich on Benjamin Britten’s still sparsely programmed Violin Concerto, dating from the early years of Britten’s self-imposed exile in North America. It is a unique path, not taken by a still young composer. Later in his life, the composer expressed his own reservations (“I guess I bit off a little more than I could chew then”) and revised the piece.

Although the Violin Concerto remains something of a sport in Britten’s catalogue, it is a wonderful, rich and darkly demanding offering. Hadelich doesn’t so much play as live it, his evident conviction that this is great music completely convincing. How we wish the composer had heard of what Hadelich makes of his problematic children’s work.

Hadelich’s collaboration with New was equally impressive. The new was there to keep things on track and occasionally tame the stranger moments of orchestral writing. Otherwise, she assumed that she was there to support and interact with her soloist. And it was as fine and exciting a concert performance as Vancouver has heard in a long time, one that spoke to an audience no doubt unfamiliar with the work, but equally delighted and moved. They may have come for Holst, but they jumped to their feet for Britten.

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