British ensemble I Fagiolini have demonstrated an innovative approach to vocal performance over the past decade. Diverse performance concepts using acrobats, live voices with recorded ones, film and costumes during concerts have brought fine interpretations of both early and recent works even further to life.

This is I Fagiolini’s first Sydney concert, as well as their debut with Musica Viva. The warmth of this group’s full texture plus the ringing tone of solo voices and great agility in polyphonic moments are the raw ingredients for this entertainment’s engaging success.

The concert structure, contact with the audience and a trademark mastery of works from eras spanning 1537 to 2015 are part of I Fagiolini’s recipe for success. The programme of short works is easily accessible and includes a world premiere of a new Australian composition.

The first half explores music from sixteenth to seventeenth-century composers. After interval, works from 1936 and beyond delight and challenge us. From quite early in the first half, group director and counter-tenor Robert Hollingworth introduces the works and composers from Italy, England and France with eloquence, historical relevance and wit. This assists the audience who can follow foreign texts in the printed programme also.

The concert has two true highlights with regard to vocal timbre and painting of emotion. A trio of Monteverdi madrigals heard in the first half and the “Sept Chansons” (Seven Songs) by Poulenc performed immediately after interval are exquisitely executed introductions to as well as being celebrations of the contrasting genres.

The complexities of the madrigal “Ohimè il bel viso” to Petrarch poetry are shaped well by the vocalists. The fresh and modern effects and exciting walls of sound in the Poulenc “Sept Chansons” are gems when presented by this well blended group.

The programmatic treats in the concert’s first half from Giovanni Croce and Clément Janequin showcase the innovation and imagination of these sixteenth-century composers. The diverse dramatic range of I Fagiolini and the group’s ability to stage rather than merely perform a piece is in evidence here. They successfully present depictions of a board game and a noisy hunt as desired by each composer in history and to satisfyingly amuse our modern sensibilities.

This concert’s world premiere work commissioned for Musica Viva is “Le Molière Imaginaire”. Written this year by Andrew Schultz, it is a good performance vehicle for I Fagiolini. The work combines clever vocal effects with well-acted text delivery, good timing and humour.

Its challenging mix of Latin and English language, scalding parody, risqué profanities and extension of scenes from the Molière drama ‘Le Malade Imaginaire’ bring a greater range of clever and fun elements to this event.

It is more beautifully penetrating vocal writing with overlapping words and tone colours which closes the concert. British composer Adrian Williams’ “Hymn to awe” (2012) is a multi-faceted and profound ending to an extremely diverse but never really disjointed pastiche of vocal treats.

I Fagiolini can be heard in a second Sydney Musica Viva concert on Saturday August 8, 2pm at the City Recital Hall, Angel Place.

For more about Musica Viva present I Fagiolini, visit http://www.musicaviva.com.au