Bach: Good Night World ~ Ensemble Pygmalion ~ Adelaide Festival Review

[Music; Australian Exclusive, Australian Premiere] Ensemble Pygmalion: Bach: Good Night World Adelaide Town Hall Fri 27 Feb, 2026 If you are the parent of a primary school student who is besotted with the recorder, don’t despair – there may be professional career for them in in a baroque group like Ensemble Pygmalion from Bordeaux who opened their festival season tonight at the Adelaide Town Hall, and received a rapturous standing ovation. For aficionados, Baroque music is not about old instruments and rather strange music but has always been about grandeur and transformation. The music chosen for this performance was born as a response to the impact of the Thirty Years War which raged across Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, leaving millions dead from war, famine, or disease. The program explores how composers sought beauty and consolation amid the subsequent political and spiritual upheaval. The detailed program notes with translations were valuable for a program entirely in German. Celebrating their 20th year, the Ensemble Pygmalion choir and orchestra, led by founder Raphaël Pichon, are critically renowned for their unmatched command of Baroque repertoire. The touring group comprises a mere 12 instrumentalists and 10 singers, but they provided a performance of musical precision, power and passion. Of the 13 pieces on the program ‘Bach: Good Night World’, six are from the pens of the remarkable Bach family. The program began with the Adam Drese aria, Nun ist alles uberwidenen (Now all is over) featuring the ethereal voice of soprano Julie Roset accompanied only by Thibaut Roussel on the Theorbo – an early lute. The aria introduces the two themes at play throughout the evening – attempts to express the pain of those caught in a world of suffering and despair, and the need to turn to God to assuage that suffering. What is remarkable is how these emotions are transmuted by the music, which is often playful and uplifting. While the singers, in various groupings, are all virtuosos, it is clear that Raphaël Pichon was born to be a conductor. His whole body, right down to his remarkably expressive fingers, repeatedly energized the players to new heights – not least in the encore begged for by the audience: a subtle, delicate, moving but magnificent aria featuring the soprano who opened the performance. This was a group of musicians, instrumental and vocal, with strengths across a wide range of formats, from powerful whole-cast renditions to the delicate acapella work of a male trio.  Whether as individuals or in groups, this was a virtuoso ensemble performance crafted and led by a genuinely inspirational maestro. 5 stars Damien Coghlan The final showing of Bach: Good Night World is at the Adelaide Town Hall on Sat Feb 28 at 1.00 pm. Purchase tickets HERE. The genius of Ensemble Pygmalion will be showcased in further concerts: Monteverdi's Vespers on March 2 and 3; and Orfeo by Luigi Rossi on March 4 and 6. Check Festival Program for more information. #TheClothesline