Brisbane Baroque: Vivica Genaux provides wow factor

Brisbane Baroque’s wow factor arrived in the oh-my-God-she-looks-incredible form of mezzosoprano Vivica Genaux.

Vivica Genaux’s voice has staggering agility and musicality.

Forget the good and the worthy. Classical music festivals must have the wow factor, and at this year’s Brisbane Baroque it duly arrived in the oh-my-God-she-looks-incredible form of Alaskan-born, Italian-based mezzosoprano Vivica Genaux.

Making her Australian concert debut, the specialist in baroque coloratura entered to audible gasps of appreciation, her million-dollar smile, spectacular figure-hugging dress and general air of not wanting to be anywhere but right where she was had you wanting to applaud her even before a note was sung.

And then out it came, a voice of staggering agility and musicality, a thousand notes a minute, all of them laser-like in accuracy and articulation, turning the opening aria into a showstopper when the show had barely begun, leaving you wanting to laugh, cry, cheer and even marry her all at once.

And so it went on through an all-Vivaldi program, the pitch-perfect brilliance of the singer jaw-dropping in its assurance, but never pulling focus from the beauty of the music itself.

Follow that if you will. And they did: local heroes Latitude 37 were right up there in the feel-good stakes, their Royal Consorts concert so wholehearted in its performance, lovely in its music and engaging in its presentation that, for a fleeting moment, it almost seemed like Brisbane City Hall was an adequate venue for baroque music.

Purcell’s King Arthur was terrific too, at least in the 50 per cent of it that didn’t bypass human ears and go straight to heaven via the musical Hoover known as the City Hall rotunda.

Over at QPAC, Iranian-born harpsichord virtuoso Mahan Esfahani’s Australian debut wasn’t exactly oversubscribed, so the Concert Hall was converted into reverse mode.

The American-educated bad-boy did a little bit of audience-bating while introducing his impressive performances based around music of the Bach family.

But there was no repeat of the riot that marred his recital last month in Cologne, and when he threw away his music to play an encore by Rameau, the night really took off.

The takeaway from this year’s baroque festival?

Venue issues and some clearly overworked performers aside, every event seemed worth hearing, and in just its second year after relocating from Hobart, Brisbane Baroque has become the annual highlight on Queensland’s concert calendar.

Brisbane Baroque. Various venues, April 8-16.