This season marks the 20th anniversary of Brett Weymark as Artistic Director of Sydney Philharmonia Choirs. To commemorate high points of his distinguished tenure, he has staged one of his favourite Handel works, Samson, in a performance which electrified the Opera House audience on a bustling Easter Saturday afternoon.

Although less popular than The Messiah, which was premiered in the same year of 1743, Samson was the bigger success at the time, running to eight performances compared with The Messiah’s three.

Composed following a string of operatic failures, the ever astute Handel brought all the theatre and plot development of a musical drama to his oratorio. He also had a stable of star singers to show off to his subscribers and Weymark had a no less impressive group of regulars for this production, trimmed back to a mere three hours.

He also had under his baton the 100 voices of the Symphony Chorus and the 40-strong Sydney Philharmonia led by Concertmaster Fiona Ziegler.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs’ Samson. Photo © Simon Crossley-Meates.

This was a blazingly triumphant performance with soloists and choir on top form.

English-Australian tenor Alexander Lewis was moving in his portrayal of...