A mild spring evening along Angel Place, dinner at China Lane, and a fortune cookie with a shrewd prophesy: You are in good hands tonight.

As it turned out, those were the capable hands of Paul Stanhope and Naomi Crellin, Artistic Directors of the Sydney Chamber Choir and a cappella quartet The Idea of North respectively, who on Saturday night came together to perform Going Björk. As the lights dimmed, the audience – representing a healthy age spectrum (Sydney’s youth had apparently got the memo), fell silent in anticipation of… silence. The empty stage provoked questioning whispers that became a low rumble as the suspense grew. And then, with growing wonder, an ethereal, echoing chorus built to a forte somewhere out of our sight.

The quirky opening, wonderfully executed by the Sydney Chamber Choir, set the tone for the evening. The mix was as eclectic as the singer who inspired the night, with musical forays into Iceland, Sweden, Finland, even Mexico, beginning with Lofsöngur, the notoriously vocally challenging Icelandic national anthem.

Four Icelandic folksongs followed, the hypnotic effect of the long, melodic notes of the initial three were shattered by the staccato bursts in Veröld fláa sýnir sig, demanding the renewed attention of...