Opera Gala

WHO'D be a concert promoter? On top of having his announced tenor, Sade, called up by the Israeli army, Barra O Tuama found himself without regular MC David McInerney for Saturday's concert at the NCH. In the event, RTE's Bernadette Comerford ably substituted as presenter, while Edmund Barham took over the tenor duties: and with considerable aplomb. The Englishman is one of a rare species, a genuine Verdi pinto who delivered arias from Macbeth and Il trovatore with ringing tone and clean high notes. And, if he was occasionally lacking in flexibility, he compensated with good line and considerable ardour, particularly in the love duet from Puccini's La Boheme, in which he was joined by Orla Boylan.

The young Dublin soprano continues to develop satisfactorily. She produces a controlled stream of liquid tone and has a good sense of legato. There is still too much of an imbalance between her strong top and her weak lower register, something that was highlighted in Per pieta from Mozart's Cosi fan tutte. Perhaps, too, she will have more feeling for the character's predicament at this point in the opera when she comes to sing the role on stage. In addition to her Mimi, she sang arias from Madame Butterfly and Louise and was particularly successful in the father/daughter duet from Rigoletto with Igor Morozov.

Subtlety plays little part in the Ukrainian baritone's act and he has a tendency to sharpen under pressure. But he makes a glorious sound and has a huge range, which he deployed admirably in a succession of arias from mainly Verdi operas, although it was the sheer verve of his Largo al factotem which got the biggest cheer of the night.

The City of Cork Male Voice Choir and Kinsale Opera Chorus, directed by Frank Buckley and accompanied by Annabel Adams, had tuning difficulties in quieter passages, but produced impressive sound elsewhere, albeit at the expense of some obtruding solo voices. The main accompanist was the estimable Christopher McManus from Covent Garden.