Melbourne is rather underdone for Baroque music, particularly of the operatic kind. So no surprise this showcase of exceptional local talent and the era’s majestic sound was warmly received.

The absence of concerts by Sydney’s Pinchgut Opera in this city in 2024 is keenly felt by Baroque lovers, but that renowned company’s Artistic Director is filling the breach as Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s Artist in Residence. Erin Helyard has conjured the orchestra’s Baroque Festival, a season of four one-off concerts including Handel and Vivaldi Arias.

He led a Baroque-style, slimmed-down MSO for this 90-minute concert, which opened with Vivaldi’s Concerto in D. The first of three concerti in between arias performed by British-Australian soprano Samantha Clarke, it was notable for the delicacy of their interpretation – which was often apparent during this concert. Concertmaster Zoë Black immediately made her mark; her solo in the second movement was particularly evocative.

Erin Helyard. Photo @ MSO

Later, in Handel’s Concerto grosso in B-flat, Rachael Tobin and Michelle Wood offered a cello duet of lovely warmth and interplay, before being joined by Emmanuel Cassimatis’s oboe. A heavenly trio.

Helyard directed this concert from behind an organ, mostly standing with an occasional tickle of the keys. For Handel’s Concerto for Organ in D minor, however, he took a seat and revealed his breathtaking dexterity and artistry on the keyboard.

The first of Clarke’s three appearances delivered a trio of Vivaldi arias. In a slim, dark-blue gown, subdued but for the bodice’s sweep off the shoulder, she revealed an agile, assured voice with lustrous tone.

Despite being marred early on by a ringing phone, Leggi almeno, tiranna infedele (Read at least, unfaithful tyrant) from the opera Ottone in Villa was a moving display of sorrowful expression, with a searching, languid vocal line.

Alma opressa da sorte (Soul oppressed by luck, from La fida ninfa) offered fiery drama including rollercoaster Baroque vocal technique.

Clarke’s two brackets of Handel arias included a concert highlight, Lascia ch’io pianga (Let me cry) from Rinaldo. Her expressiveness, beautifully formed notes and virtuosic improvisation were delightful.

Helyard’s tempo was a touch slower than is usual for this aria, and the playing wonderfully soft, so even Nicholas Pollock’s tender plucking of the theorbo was clear. A memorable interpretation by all of this Baroque favourite, revealing its heartache and sublime music.

Molto voglio (I want a lot), a much more cheery aria from Rinaldo, was notable for Clarke’s leaping top notes. For Let the bright seraphim, from Handel’s Samson, she played with joy and confidence in her bright upper register. Joined by Owen Morris’s ringing solo trumpet for a duel that showed off Baroque music at its triumphant best, Clarke surely put a smile on every face with this concert finale.

Sadly, and strangely given the warm applause, there was no encore. The audience mostly filled Hamer Hall’s 2,466 seats, which suggests there’s a strong appetite for Baroque music in Melbourne. Let us hope this festival is not, like the Handel and Vivaldi Arias concert, a one-off.

MSO’s Bach and Vivaldi Concertos is performed at Ballarat Town Hall, 5 April.