For the participants in the Britten-Pears Young Artist programme, the learning curve is steep, but the rewards of working with an artist of the stature of countertenor Andreas Scholl are manifest. In this pair of Snape Proms concerts, which were the culmination of a 10-day masterclass course directed by Scholl, it may have been the singers who benefited most in practical terms - but, for the instrumentalists, accompanying Scholl himself in works by Handel and Vivaldi was evidently inspirational.

Scholl's conducting debut in the first of these concerts was not perhaps anything to ricochet around the music world, with Bach's Cantata No 105 emerging in a slightly leaden fashion, and the penitential mood becoming a little overbearing. By contrast, the Cantata No 182, Himmelskönig, Sei Willkommen, had a uplifting joy: its contrapuntal writing was clearly defined and the chorus shaped Bach's phrases with Scholl's trademark finesse. Of the promising voices stepping forward to deliver their solos, the warm mezzo of Canadian Jennifer Enns Modolo was the most impressive.

For sheer breathtaking beauty, Scholl's sound is in a league of its own. Even after inflicting 10 days' talking on the vocal chords, its instrumental clarity and purity seemed hardly impaired. In Handel's scena Mi Palpita il Cor, the sequential passages were impeccably articulated, the graduation of tone-colours constantly illuminating. And the siciliano of Ho Tanti Affanni in Petto, with Per Gross's recorder obbligato, achieved an exquisite melancholy.

In his solos, Scholl relinquished the burden of directing to Christian Rieger - the fine executant of two Bach harpsichord concertos on successive evenings - and guest leader Adrian Chandler. Nevertheless, his freely expressive body language communicated eloquently to the Britten-Pears Baroque Orchestra, and the drama of Vivaldi's cantata Cessate, Omai Cessate was vividly realised.