The Australian Chamber Orchestra’s Sequenza Italiana, featuring Sicilian cellist and composer Giovanni Sollima, alludes to Luciano Berio’s Sequenzas, “written for performers whose virtuosity is above all a virtuosity of knowledge”.

Sollima, the ACO’s Finnish principal violin Satu Vänskä and Canadian double bass Maxime Bibeau performed some of the most difficult and technically complex pieces written in Italy over the period of 400 years covered in the programme, from Monteverdi to Berio and Sollima himself. These are pieces written for and performed by virtuosi – but there is nothing academic about their playing.

Too often virtuosity can be arid, sacrificing emotion and immediacy to technical perfection. No chance of that here. What strikes you about Sollima is his impish energy. He is a very physical musician. He walks around the stage, playing his cello like a rock musician his electric guitar – and Sollima has played rock music, as well as a melting ice cello in the Italian Alps. When he is seated, he wraps himself around the cello, his head flung back, gazing at the ceiling in an expression of ecstasy. When the orchestra plays a phrase, he whirls round in his seat in surprise and responds with a rapid riposte...