Sacrificium
Cecilia Bartoli, mezzo-soprano
Sergio Ciomei, piano
Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
March 15, 2011

Cecilia Bartoli has become one of today’s most popular and recognisable classical stars, often lending her exceptional gifts to the adventurous cause of exploring relatively unknown repertoire. Her Sacrificium concert programme, based on her recording of the same name which features early 18th-century music for castrati, aims to share with a wider audience music with which only baroque devotees might be familiar. While not usually a baroque fan myself, I very much looked forward to finding out what this repertoire had to offer and experiencing the Italian singer’s prodigious talents firsthand.

The concert opened with pianist Sergio Ciomei playing Scarlatti’s Sonata in E, K380, at the last bars of which Bartoli strode on stage costumed in black boots, cape and feathered hat as seen in her Art of the Castrati DVD. The programme alternated fast and slow arias by Porpora, Broschi, Handel, Vinci, Leo, Araia and Caldara – a personal highlight was Broschi’s Chi non sente al mio dolore from the obscure 1732 opera Siface. This aria showcased one of the most outstanding qualities of Bartoli’s singing: phenomenal breath control facilitating richly coloured phrasing and...