H&H led fluently by one of its own

Daniel Stepner performed and conducted on Sunday. (STU ROSNER)

Daniel Stepner is a well-known and highly valued violinist on the local scene. He can be spotted, depending on the day, in the first violin chair of the Lydian String Quartet, or as the calm, grounding presence at the front of the first violin section of the Handel and Haydn Society, where he has been concertmaster for more than two decades. But Stepner wears even more hats than local audiences may realize. He also directs the Aston Magna Festival in the Berkshires, plays in the Boston Museum Trio, and has been known to step out on occasion in front of his H&H colleagues to direct a program, with fiddle in hand or without.

That was the case on Sunday night at Jordan Hall, when Stepner led his second of the weekend's two H&H concerts, given over to a double concerto by Vivaldi and concerti grossi by Corelli and Locatelli, plus a scheduled vocal appearance by Dominique Labelle in Handel's "Delirio Amoroso." The program, despite the through-line of Italian influence, had a slightly arbitrary feeling on paper. Why not seize the moment and make it all concertos? And why lean so heavily on concerti grossi when audiences have many opportunities to hear the orchestra as a whole but far fewer chances to witness the spotlighting of talent from within the ensemble's ranks?

Be that as it may, a wrench was thrown into the works when Labelle fell ill and withdrew from Sunday's concert. H&H replaced her with the young soprano Kristen Watson performing Handel's "Gloria in Excelsis Deo." It ended up being a highlight of the program, thanks to Watson's featherweight voice and nimble purity of tone. The small ensemble behind her played with fresh responsiveness, palpably on its toes given the last-minute nature of the substitution.

Earlier on the program, Stephen Hammer and Andrew Schwartz were the soloists in an accomplished reading of Vivaldi's Concerto for Oboe and Bassoon, especially notable for the conversational fluency brought to the lyrical slow movement. Stepner opened the program by conducting Corelli's Concerto Grosso (Op. 6, No. 3) and closed it by leading Locatelli's Concerto Grosso (Op. 7, No. 6) with violin in hand. In both cases, his direction was solid and unflashy, organically grounded in the music at hand. The very last chords of the Locatelli were played with a perfectly balanced and glowing ensemble tone that seemed at a higher resolution of detail than much of what had come before. Members of the ensemble warmly applauded one of their own.

Jeremy Eichler can be reached at jeichler@globe.com