The Australian Haydn Ensemble partners with two noted exponents of early and contemporary singing techniques, Celeste Lazarenko (soprano) and Helen Sherman (mezzo soprano), in a program of sacred music from the 18th, aptly showcased in the Wesley Uniting Church, Canberra.

Australian Haydn Ensemble’s Heavenly Sopranos at the Wesley Church, Canberra. Photo © Oliver Miller

The evening opened with excerpts from Oratorio Sanctus Petrus et Sancta Maria Magdalena, by Johann Adolf Hasse. Amid a walking pace pulse, with AHE Artistic Director Skye McIntosh leading five string players, organ, and theorbo, they drove the music before Sherman stepped up to sing a long-held note. Lazarenko joined in to create a delicious dialogue between the two.

From the highly ornamented, to the plaintive, this music has baroque fingerprints firmly imprinted on the score. Even after 250 years since inception, its sprightly and rhythmic nature is enough to get the pulse racing.

Neapolitan composer Francesco Durante’s selections from Concerto No. 1 in F minor followed. This doleful and sweet music spot lit the unity of AHE – always such a pleasing aspect of their performances – and the precise balance between instrumentalists.

Another work by Hasse came...