Equally active in performing, conducting and arranging in the HIP-est style, Chad Kelly could justifiably be added to the pantheon of Masters of the Baroque.

This thrilling Thursday night concert with Perth soprano Prudence Sanders and musicians of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, which Kelly directed from the harpsichord throughout, only served to strengthen that claim.

The first half saw the violins arranged antiphonally; the second, grouped together to Kelly’s left. For Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto in D minor BWV 1052, a smaller string ensemble.

The Overture from Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus raised the curtains and expectations, Kelly’s dynamic, whole-body approach to conducting eliciting from the orchestra a weighty larghetto and punchy fugal allegro.

West Australian Symphony Orchestra: Masters of the Baroque. Photo © Daniel James Grant

Sanders’ “Un Pensiero voli in ciel” from Handel’s Il delirio amoroso and “Tu del ciel ministro eletto” from the composer’s Il Tionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno followed. If the former’s virtuosic displays from Sanders and obbligato violinist Alexandra Isted, supplemented by some fine work from oboist Liz Chee, dazzled, the latter’s whispered first violins and ripieno pizzicato strings provided an ethereal cloud over which Sanders effortlessly soared. Utterly exquisite.

Corelli’s Concerto grosso in G minor Op.6/8 “Christmas Concerto” took us to intermission in fine fashion, Isted, fellow violinist Kylie Liang and cellist Rod McGrath on trio duty, co-conspirator Kelly juggling continuo and conducting with admirable artistry and dexterity.

These two qualities came to the fore in the Bach, Kelly taking centre stage as soloist for a sparkling performance of rhapsodic invention and mathematical precision such as would have made Bach proud.

West Australian Symphony Orchestra: Masters of the Baroque. Photo © Daniel James Grant

Thus auspiciously begun, the second half of the concert continued with a sinfonia from Pergolesi’s L’Adriano in Siria, a glorious “Tra le procelle assorto” from Graun’s Cleopatra e Cesare (Sanders having returned to the stage) and, to finish off the evening, a brilliantly rendered account of Biber’s deliciously eccentric, programmatic Battalia a 10.

Overall, this concert was an excellent example of the hybrid approach to performing Baroque music with largely modern instruments and longer bows than would have been the custom (this affects the phrasing and articulation).

It’s to Kelly’s – and to the players’ – credit, that such clarity and transparency of sound and texture were so consistently maintained. The occasional smudge barely registered.