Bord Gais Opera Gala

Sally Burgess is one of the finest Carmens around, a fact confirmed by her subtle way with the Act 1 arias from Bizet's opera at the NCH on Saturday. It was her spell-binding account of Dalila's Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix, however, which really stole the show.

The English mezzo hasn't got a particularly big voice, nor has she the right weight of tone for the pieces she sang from Verdi's Trovatore and Sulli van's Patience, but her dynamic control in the arias by Bizet and Saint-Saens and in Rossini's Una voce poco fa was an object lesson in how to maximise a singer's tonal range.

Although born in Chile, Tito Beltran has all the best attributes of an Italian lyric tenor. He offers effulgent tone, clear diction and a telling vocal presence. Further, his phrasing is a joy and his top notes ring out triumphantly. Sadly, he has now acquired a built-in sob, a penchant for consistent loudness, and a tendency to trivialise certain bridge passages by speeding up the tempo.

That said, his singing of arias and songs by Verdi, Flotow, Donizetti and Leoncaval lo at the NCH on Saturday was always tinglingly exciting, as was his well-spun delivery of the cavatina from Gounod's Faust.

David Barrell is a baritone whose extended upper range enabled him to match the tenor's high B flat in the famous duet from Bizet's Pecheurs de perles. Elsewhere, his lean but well-focused tones were best heard in the big baritone showpieces from Verdi's Ernani and Traviata and in a somewhat over-the-top Largo al factotum from Rossini's Barbiere.

Pianist Alister Dawes accompanied the singing admirably, but his superficial intro ductions would have benefited from stronger rhythmical pointing. The men from Grainne Gormley's Tallaght Choral Society had some ropey moments while backing the soloists, but the full choir sounded fine in Haydn's sprightly Awake the harp and in the American song Blow the candles out.