When Opera Queensland heard that countertenor Andreas Scholl was coming to Australia to perform in Sydney and Melbourne with the Australian World Orchestra, they were straight on the phone to see if he might be able to squeeze in a concert in Brisbane.

Luckily for Brisbane, he was – as was the revered Ensemble Q to accompany him. A concert was born.

Andreas Scholl and Ensemble Q at the City Tabernacle Baptist Church. Photo © Ensemble Q/Facebook

Dating from 1890, the venue, Brisbane’s City Tabernacle Baptist Church, is a grand building with a large two-storey high space, and a very nice acoustic with just a touch of reverberation. Perfect for a concert of this ilk featuring works by J.S. Bach, Vivaldi and Purcell, with one work, Ein Wallfahrtslied (Pilgrim’s Song), by modern-day Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, with whom Scholl has worked.

It’s no wonder Scholl is lauded as the best on the planet; his voice is powerful (but never forced), supremely clear and pure, and brilliantly controlled, especially in long sustained single notes, such as in the Pärt.

He delivers impossible melismas seemingly effortlessly, such as in Bach’s Vergnügte Ruh, from BWV...