Performer: Christopher Richardson

Some nice singing and Baroque playing don't quite make up for an over-ambitious, drab staging of a Handel oratorio in Australia's capital.

...it was the Bach pieces that were the undoubted highlights, particularly the radiant contribution of Sara Macliver.

Confusion has such lovely music! Sydney's pioneering Baroque and early classical opera specialists, Pinchgut Opera offered Haydn's Armida as its 16th production.