There was a beautiful, poignant shape to this special Wednesday night Easter concert, with Olivia Davies’ intimate Femina Mortem celebrating Christ’s mother Mary and John Rutter’s effervescent Gloria praising Jesus Christ before mother and son were brought together in Mary Finsterer’s dramatic Ad Honorem Beatae Mariae Virginis & Stabat Mater.

And who better than to preside over such a powerfully spiritual musical occasion than internationally acclaimed organist and choral conductor Dr Joseph Nolan, who together with St George’s Cathedral Consort and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra propelled a near-capacity Winthrop Hall audience into hitherto unexperienced realms of ecstasy and suffering.

Joseph Nolan and WASO: Devotion & Glory. Photo © Rebecca Mansell

As Davies writes in her program note to this world premiere performance of Femina Mortem, which is based on Hildegard von Bingen’s antiphon Quia ergo femina mortem instruxit, “what drew me to this short, evocative text is Hildegard’s celebration of feminine power as she reframes women’s role in Christianity from one of guilt to one of blessing and redemption. In the text, Hildegard contrasts Eve, who introduced death through original sin, with Mary, who brought life through Christ.”

Nolan and his...