Toronto’s Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, the latest musical presenter to embrace the popularity of opera in this city, is putting its best staged foot forward this week.

At Thursday’s sold-out Koerner Hall opening performance of Hercules, a “musical drama” from 1745 by Messiah composer George Frideric Handel, the orchestra, Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, soloists and dancers were on fire.

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John Terauds

John Terauds, Editor-Emeritus of Ludwig van Toronto, is currently a Divinity student at the University of Toronto and a church music director. He joined the Toronto Star in 1988, was the classical music critic from 2005 to 2012, and continues as a freelance critic for the paper. He is the co-author of Roy Thomson Hall: A Portrait, a book written with Toronto Star Colleague, William Littler.

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Gorgeously rendered music — both instrumentally and vocally — was enough to make this a landmark event in the city’s concert season. That there was extra staging involved, even if not perfect, was the cherry on top of an already rich sundae.

This semi-staged concert marks an interesting and important new step for Tafelmusik and is a remarkable way for music director and violinist Jeanne Lamon to mark her 30th anniversary at the head of the 33-year-old orchestra.

In the Toronto period-instrument premiere of Handel’s English-language opera, Lamon showed herself firmly in control of all the elements that make for a great evening of music and drama.

Like Tafelmusik’s presentation, Hercules is a hybrid work, intended to be sung in concert. But, with the directorial help and choreography of Opera Atelier co-artistic directors Marshall Pynkoski and Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg, there was enough swirl and commotion to keep the evening from feeling like a static oratorio.

The end of Hercules’ life, as set to words by Thomas Broughton, focuses on the jealousy that drives his wife Dejanira to accidentally kill him. Handel’s rich, diverse score plumbs every possible dramatic depth as he depicts the woman’s descent into despair.

(And, as audiences have always preferred, there is a redemptive ending in the triumph of young love and Hercules’ ascent to Mount Olympus.)

Although everyone involved contributed to a memorable performance, particular kudos go to Toronto mezzo Allyson McHardy, who dazzled as Dejanira.

McHardy’s voice is pure, fragrant, dark buckwheat honey — just the ticket for a particularly demanding role. Paired with dramatically riveting and technically impeccable renditions of Handel’s bravura arias for a character walking the tightrope between sanity and madness, this mezzo captivated from the moment she sang her first note.

The rest of the principal cast — baritone Sumner Thompson as Hercules, tenor Colin Balzer as son Hyllus, soprano Nathalie Paulin as captive princess Iöle and mezzo Laura Pudwell as the herald Lichas — all were excellent.

In fact, the only flaws in this affecting and uplifting evening were some elements of the staging.

One was Raha Javanfar’s elementary lighting, which kept too much of the stage too dark for long stretches of time. The other was the director’s decision to dress Dejanira and Iöle in Opera Atelier-issue gowns while saddling the trouser roles with rumpled black street clothes. It left them looking as if they were stray members of some small-theatre stage crew.

But these are small quibbles in the face of such an engaging show.

We can only hope that this is the start of more Baroque opera in concert in Toronto.

John Terauds