In the heat of summer, the coolest place to be to start the New Year is on the Mornington Peninsula for eight days of a classy and wonderful variety of twelve concerts at eight grand venues. Musicians Melissa Doecke and Ben Opie have the winning edge as highly experienced directors who bring not only highly acclaimed international and Australian artists to this established annual festival – guaranteeing sold out sessions – but also young emerging performers such as violinist Theonie Wang, concertmaster from the Australian Youth Orchestra, and The Bamboos – trailblazers in funk and soul.
The amphitheatre in the Peninsula’s famous Hot Springs with its timeless natural surrounds is perfect for new works and cross-cultural inspirations. Young and old always delight in the creativity and sight of fresh ideas in art/music collaborations and a popular family/community open-air festival event. Truly there is something for everyone, with concerts well spaced for Fetival patrons to sample the region’s fine produce.
Opening nights for festivals are always socially special, with stars featured in their favourite musical performances. What a treat then was the Opera Gala, with three distinguished guest singers, all admired for their interpretations of Baroque music – from France, soprano Myriam Arbouz, with Australians tenor Jacob Lawrence and baritone David Greco, both with several years of study and performance in Europe. Harpist Hannah Lane was highly commended in the Festival Directors’ opening welcome, as Creative Director of the Festival Baroque Orchestra, initiating the program concept and staging. Audiences are always intrigued too, by the vision of the harp, harpsichord, viola da gamba and the lirone, Laura Vaughan’s 13-stringed instrument.
The new Flinders Hall is a fine new multi-purpose community venue, its acoustics favouring singers, but with this large baroque ensemble, many in the audience couldn’t quite see the fabulous instruments in the “back row” – oboe, recorder, bassoon and Nicholas Pollock’s captivating theorbo. Given the hot summer night too, the ensemble did a brilliant job maintaining and adjusting to the heat to maintain fine balance, blend, and pitch for a lengthy program. Most impressive!
Taking our imaginations into the Baroque era with a continuous flow of music, program notes provided descriptions of Scenes, commencing with the Scene 1: Prologue – The Voice of Music. A soothing instrumental Sinfonia per l’introduzione del Prologue by Italian opera composer Stefano Landi set the time and place for us as Myriam Arbouz entered from the central aisle, delivering Monteverdi’s La Musica from L’Orfeo, and stunning us with her purity of pitch, elegant and honest theatrical presence, musical authority and warm, captivating emotive expression. Strings added sensitive levels of dynamics in their accompaniment, led with authority by Chad Kelly on harpsichord.
Scene 2 brought recorders to accompany the sweet winds of Spring’s return with further excerpts from L’Orfeo, Act 2, and the duo of Lawrence and Greco added both lyrical beauty and earthy strength in the frequently changing tempi of Baroque dance-like vocal sections. Instrumentally shaped melodies with much counterpoint and ornamentation were finely executed in the lively Scherzi musicali – Zefiro torna, before we moved to Scene 3, where lovely varying combinations of strings, harpsichord and harp brought a description of Loss, Longing and Lament in Salamone Rossi’s solemn Sinfonia Grave.
With a continuous score, the singers established a smooth theatrical presence, staging their entrances and exits on stage or in the body of the hall, with perfect timing for varied solos, duo pairings, and trio combinations. From Monteverdi’s Madrigals of Love and War, “Lamento della Ninfa” was performed with impressive melodic intricacy, fine sorrowful vibrato and purity of pitch and emotional expression. In Scene 4: Love Restored, from L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Greco and Arbouz partnered in delightful animation, approaching each other from opposite sides of the stage for the famous, final love duetto “Pur ti miro, pur ti godo” singing “Si, si, si, si” with delightfully projected joy and communicative facial expressions.
Following Interval, a buoyant Ouverture by Mademoiselle Duval took us to the colourful French court of Louis XIV with Scene V: Courtly Wit and Musical Display with three songs from Le Bourgeoise gentilhomme by Lully. With gorgeous atmospheric instrumental accompaniment, Arbouz again dazzled us with her superb tone, more florid ornamentation and super softness as her expressive texts and presentation touched our hearts.
The best of Purcell’s music closed the Opera Gala with Scene 6: Enchantment, Blessings and Celebration as excerpts from The Fairy Queen and Dido and Aeneas brought a joyful finale. Most striking was Greco’s rich and vibrant lowest notes, taking us to a new richly toned depth of voice, and he held the audience in his power with extended pauses and silent moments. Kelly joined all voices for a robust vocal quartet, and so we kept relishing the variety and contrast of Baroque colours achieved in this program, the resonant foundations of the repeated ground bass on gorgeous lower strings and harp, elaborate repertoire and faultless vocal presentations. Delightful music from King Arthur and the closing number from The Fairy Queen, “They shall be as happy as they’re fair”, brought smiles and cheers from this Festival audience.
Image supplied.
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Julie McErlain reviewed the Peninsula Summer Music Festival Opera Gala, presented at Flinders Civic Hall on January 3, 2026.
