Adelaide-based soprano Karina Bailey and pianist Yundi Yuan opened their delightful recital Night Songs with Henri Duparc’s setting of Charles Baudelaire’s poem L’invitation au voyage, which concludes with the following lines: Là, tout n’est qu’ordre et beauté, Luxe, Calme et Volupté! (There – nothing but order and beauty dwell, Abundance, calm and sensuous delight).

On a warm, early summer evening, these refreshingly optimistic sentiments encouraged the audience to suspend their troubled reflections upon this disrupted and nerve-wracking year. The recital took place in a modern church building with windows facing west offering a panoramic view across the Adelaide Hills at dusk and placing the audience in a calm and receptive frame of mind.

Karina Bailey. Photograph © Meg Hansen Photography

Karina Bailey and Yundi Yuan have both won young performer awards in South Australia in recent years. Bailey completed her Master of Music (Opera) at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in June and this was her first recital since returning to Australia, though her voice betrayed no signs of enforced idleness. With fine support from Yuan, Bailey sang with confidence, subtlety and, when needed, power.

The first half of the program comprised works by French...