Concert Review: Samson/ Pacific Opera Studio And The Muffat Collective

Concert review- Samson, G.F. Handel

Pacific Opera Studio and The Muffatt Collective

Christ Church St Laurence, Sydney, Saturday May 17 ^th, 2025

Reviewer- Victoria Watson, image credit Rosa Doric.

Pacific Opera Studio, a training ensemble for aspiring young opera singers, provides a rare opportunity in Sydney to hone the operatic craft. Its current artistic direction is shared by husband and wife team Peter Coleman-Wright and Cheryl Barker who have many decades of performing experience at the highest international levels. The young artists in the programme are offered invaluable insights and experiences during their scholarship tenures.

The concert presentation of Handel’s Samson offered a different experience to their usual diet of operatic arias and ensembles. In Europe and more lately in Australia, Handel’s oratorios and Bach’s magnificent Passions are offered in semi-staged format or even given a full operatic treatment.

The original Handel stagings were simple but ingenious through necessity. Reeling from the operatic financial disasters of the 1730s in London, Handel turned to inventing a new format to compose great vocal works. The Italian superstar singers were invariably both hugely expensive and temperamentally demanding, as were the scenic designers and their ever more elaborate stage machinery. Handel looked to casting local English and Irish singers and writing concert works comparatively simple and inexpensive to perform in town halls or churches. His most successful oratorio Messiah was completed and received highly accalaimed performances as he worked on Samson in 1741. When Samson was finally performed at the Covent Garden Theatre in 1743, it was hailed as a masterpiece of the new genre.

In 21^st century Sydney, Samson is rarely performed, perhaps more for its unwieldy narrative and gloomy subject than its superb score. The melodic writing is as inspired as much of Messiah, with Handel flexing his muscle as a master of bel canto line for the voice, exquisite word painting in both choral and solo numbers and great variety in the orchestral writing.

POS wisely abridged the three-hour performance time to just above two hours without too much loss of the story line and musical arc. Unfortunately the cutting of da capo sections in some arias, where the first section is repeated with ornamentation, removed the pleasing symmetry and some of the fundamentals of writing in the baroque era. Singers were offered an opportunity to express their individuality and musicality through expressive ornamentation. With time constraints, some of this was lost in the POS presentation and keys often hovered in no-man’s-land without a return to the tonic (home key) that a da capo allows. Young singers can benefit by learning the ornamentation and it also allows the audience to become more familiar with the music. Without da capos the oratorio becomes a long stream of contrasting musical ideas with less structural repetition. This was most evident in the repeat section of one of the most well-known and loved arias at the conclusion of the piece, Let the Bright Seraphim beautifully sung by soprano Galatea Kneath at a very brisk tempo. Some arias such as the magnificent and sparsely written Total Eclipse for the tenor requires no da capo. This was also delivered effectively.

Perhaps for practical purposes the role of Samson was split but the dramatic cohesion suffered as a result. Tenor Michael Kaufmann was particularly fine in the first part. His sweet lyric tenor is well suited to the bel canto style which Handel laboured to master in his youth in Italy. While the original Samson, John Beard was likely more hefty tenor with a strong lower range, the role can be interpreted in a range of ways. Tenor Daniel Macey brought a more operatic timbre and a strong dramatic presence when he portrayed Samson.

A highlight of the evening was the bass aria of Samson’s father Manoah Thy glorious deeds in Act I. Queensland bass baritone Aidan Hodder delivered beautiful phrasing , a resonant tone and exciting coloratura. Equally impressive was bass baritone Matthew Avery exuding confidence and gravitas in the role of Harapha.

The female soloists were uniformly suited to the repertoire and performed well. Patricia Turner as Dalila made a sultry but suitably repentant temptress and betrayer. She has a lovely lyric soprano voice and is one to watch in future.

Brea Holland, a new member of POS deserves a mention for her lively presence on stage in both solo and ensemble items. When in concert, opera singers can become rather withdrawn emotionally and wooden in delivery compared to being directed in an opera setting. Yet this is the same Handel of Alcina and the fine lyric poetry is derived from Milton. There are many opportunities to invest in the word painting, emotional turmoil and varieties of mood experienced by the characters and the chorus. At its heart an oratorio is music theatre and opera on a shoestring. It demands dramatic commitment as much as vocal dexterity.

Full kudos to the orchestral playing of The Muffatt Collective led by Matthew Greco. It is always a joy to hear an authentic eighteenth century approach to instrumentation, pitch phrasing and affect. The singers were very fortunate to have this opportunity to sing with a fine baroque ensemble. A lighter more transparent texture in some choruses would have made a better match but requires many more rehearsals and specialist training. Hopefully, these talented young singers will regularly attend some of the fine baroque performances in Sydney to further embrace the style.

The generous donors who support POS are to be applauded for supporting a new generation of singers and POS is to be congratulated for the opportunities they offer and for choosing a challenging project for their scholars. May they go from strength to strength.

A graduate of Melbourne university and VCA, Victoria appeared regularly as a soprano with the Victoria State Opera and has toured and served as artistic director of many chamber ensembles.

She has performed with Sydney Symphony Orchestra and for ten years, was artistic director of a major opera education project with Opera Australia. Since 2015 she has moved into directing opera including Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte at the Independent theatre.

Victoria has lectured in voice at the major universities in Melbourne, and is currently a tutor at UNSW. Having taught at major Sydney secondary colleges, she now runs a busy private singing studio. She is a published author on opera and a popular freelance music and theatre lecturer and advocate for Australian artists around the world.