The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra’s 2024 edition of its annual Noël! Noël! concert opened with the prologue of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, a triumphant toccata that set the tone for 90 minutes of music ranging from the sacred to the celebratory to the downright cheeky.

Artistic director Paul Dyer’s thoughtful program of festive music – complete with detailed program notes – always provides a fresh angle and a fascinating insight into what inspires and excites the man who has led the ABO since its inception in 1989.

His sense of the dramatic is evident in the staging of every ABO production and this performance was no exception. From the opening trumpet fanfare that summoned an ethereal figure in black from the shadows to deliver a heartrending prologue, the audience was captivated. This included my six-year-old granddaughter, who asked me whether the soloist – soprano Astrid Girdis – was wearing a microphone. And who, when told she was not, rested her head on my shoulder until the end, completely entranced. 

Nöel! Nöel!: Astrid Girdis and The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. Photo © Laura Manariti

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