Bach Akademie Australia presents The Countertenor – Bach’s Holy Spirit with the spotlight on American countertenor Reginald Mobley singing music by Johann Christoph Bach and Johann Sebastian Bach.

Artistic Director Madeleine Easton directs a 14-strong specialist baroque ensemble from her violin as well as taking the solo violin lines.

Some of the most exquisite works through history have been written for the alto voice. Think J S Bach’s aria Schlafe, mein Liebster, Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody and Purcell’s Dido’s Lament. In Bach’s time, women were forbidden from the choir stalls; castrati took the female roles on the opera stage. Alto parts in church were therefore allocated to older boys whose voices were lowering. Today, these parts are sung by women and increasingly by countertenors. Both are better able than children, to perform the technical demands of the baroque style.

Reginald Mobley and Bach Akademie Australia at City Recital Hall, Sydney. Photo © Stephen Blake

Recently, it is the countertenors who have become increasingly popular and expert in performing this repertoire. Reginald Mobley is one of them. From his first note, the Florida-born singer has the audience spellbound, tossed headlong into a breathtaking...