01:00 AM EDT on Monday, April 12, 2004

BY CHANNING GRAY
Journal Arts Writer

Foundling is one of the best things to happen to the local classical music scene in a long, long time.

The fledgling string group gave a stunning performance last night at Grace Church, the kind of program you might expect to hear in major music centers but not around here.

This was loose, fluid playing that was attentive to detail and at its best, able to swing.

A violin duet in the middle of a Bach cantata was about as close to jazz as Baroque music gets.

This all-female ensemble takes its name from the women of the Italian foundling home where Vivaldi once worked as a music teacher.

The group has been working in tandem with the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence, as a sort of orchestra with a social mission. Part of the proceeds from its concerts help support the coalition.

Foundling made its debut back in the summer, and last night music director Dana Maiben was talking about launching a Providence season next year. It would be welcomed.

The players, most from the Boston area (although acclaimed Baroque cellist Elisabeth LeGuin lives in California), are all specialists in Baroque performance styles, which calls for a flat, vibratoless tone and a lighter bow technique, not to mention a knack for dressing up melodic lines.

Providence, by virtue of being in the shadow of Boston, an early music mecca, has hosted many a fine Baroque-period group in the past, but none with more bounce and drive than Foundling.

This was playing that was full of surprises, of unexpected twists and turns. And moments worth savoring, like the courtly polonaise from a Handel concerto grosso.

Even the group's wardrobe was a little unusual. The women showed up in jeans and white T-shirts.

Last night's program was all Baroque with a nod to Easter. Boston-area soprano Pamela Murray sang a couple of arias from Handel's Messiah, then ended the evening with Jauchzet Gott, one of Bach's most joyous cantatas.

Kris Ingles joined in on the natural trumpet for the Bach. That's the high valveless cousin of the modern trumpet that's heard so often in Baroque music.

Murray, who has the Baroque sound down cold, was a perfect fit for this band of 14 instrumentalists. She might have carried better, though, had she stood in front of the strings. As it was, her clear but light soprano tended to be overshadowed by the orchestra and gobbled up by Grace Church's ample accoustics.

But her upbeat rendition of "Rejoice greatly" from Messiah was a real treat, with all those running passages sounding so crisp and smooth.

Maiben and Julia McKenzie, interesting and energetic players both, teamed up for some incredible duet work in the Bach, the kind of playing that had a wonderful sense of rapport and that makes Foundling so special.

Let's just hope Providence gets behind this exceptional band of string players.