Llewellyn Hall, Canberra
November 19, 2016

Any outdoor event is at the mercy of the gods. Predicted unstable weather conditions meant that Canberra’s Voices in the Forest – now in its sixth year – was held in Australian National University’s Llewellyn Hall rather than at the National Arboretum, despite what turned out to be a pleasant evening. The Hall was filled to capacity, however, with an audience just as eager for the music as they might have been for the forest. The concert began with Strauss’ blazing Also Sprach Zarathustra – the Voices in the Forest Orchestra conducted by Roland Peelman, the brass section standing behind the orchestra – but the momentum was brought to a halt after the first number by the officious welcoming of dignitaries and listing of sponsors.

The warm, mellow voice of Australian mezzo-soprano Sally-Anne Russell brought the focus back to the music, however, with a bright-eyed rendition of the Séguidilla from Carmen, kicking off a series of opera favourites – Una voce poco fa from Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Voi, che sapete from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Carmen’s Habanera, L’amour est un oisseau rebelle. She sung alternating slots with American lyric tenor Richard Troxell –...