The Perth audience were in capable hands with the voices of the women of the Giovanni Consort this evening, an ensemble of infinitely musical and skilled young people, delivering a concert of both well-known and lesser-featured choral delights.

Giovanni Consort performing Songs for the Soul at Government House Ballroom, Perth on 21 May, 2022.

Giovanni Consort performing Songs for the Soul at

But firstly, to acknowledge new and refreshing leadership of the longstanding Consort by singer-come-conductor Kate McNamara. McNamara acknowledged in her brief introductions the challenging conditions under which the current concert was rehearsed, as Perth is in the grips of the worst of COVID-19 infections in Australia at present, a fact evidently not lost on much of the choosing-to-be-masked audience. Prior to this concert McNamara acknowledged frankly in an interview with Limelight that she “would love to see our industry question whether all-male concert programs are acceptable in 2022”, articulating that she has made the decision to utilise her position as artistic director to commit to featuring at least a 50 per cent representation of woman composers in concerts henceforth. McNamara proved that this is more than possible by...