BREMF – Acis and Galatea – The BREMF Players & Singers, John Hancorn (director)

The concert began, in keeping with the Festival’s theme, with a charming ‘Dixit Dominus’ by Isabella Leonardo (1620-1704), a talented nun from Novara.

Then Handel’s ever-popular chamber opera completed the Brighton Early Music Festival’s programme of outstanding choral works. Julia Bishop led the flawless BREMF players, supported (and almost up-staged) by the incomparable Piers Adams on sopranino recorder. However, Galatea (soprano Catrin Woodruff) is hot stuff too. She almost sang him down, as did bully-boy Polyphemus (Giles Underwood, baritone), who revelled in his role. Tenor Benedict Hymas made the shepherd Acis both heroic and vulnerable, and Sophie Pullen sang Damon.

St George’s Church, 7 November 2015

Rating: