He came, he sang, but above all else, Jose Carreras won a special place in the hearts of everyone attending this Charity Concert to celebrate the reopening of the refurbished Usher Hall.

Immortalised as one of the Three Tenors, Carreras left the packed audience in no doubt that he is still an exceptional singer and spellbinding performer in his own right.

And to prove it, he immediately launched into Cancion Hungara by Jose Serrano, effortlessly hitting the top ‘A’ at the climax to cheers and applause.

Part of the thrill of listening to a

Jose Carreras Usher Hall

tenor is waiting to see if he soars easily over those high hurdles. For Carreras they were no problem, indeed he positively relished the challenge.

In operatic terms Carreras’ voice is more chardonnay than claret but his passionate and heartfelt interpretations are what makes him such an utterly entrancing singer. He crooned his way through a selection of love songs, caressing every word with his silky tones. Many of the songs, like the tale of unrequited love in E la solita storia from Cilea’s L’Arlesiana, and Rogers & Hammerstein's Some Enchanted Evening, brought tears to the eye.

Scottish soprano Lisa Milne matched Carreras song for song with some exquisite singing in classics such as Dvorak’s Song to the Moon from Rusalka and the My Fair Lady hit, I Could Have Danced All Night.

And Scotland’s fastest rising operatic star certainly looked as if she could sing and dance all night, enjoying every moment of this special evening. Her crystal clear voice is remarkably versatile, able to slip from a teasing Norina in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale to a nostalgic Hanna in Lehra’s The Merry Widow. Her encore of Puccini’s well-known O mio babbino caro from Gianni Schicchi was also a popular choice with the audience.

However, it was Carreras’ duets with Milne that really went down a storm particularly the final encore of the evening - the rousing Brindisi from Verdi’s La Traviata. Before singing what has become something of an anthem for the Three Tenors, Carreras invited the audience to ‘sing along’ to celebrate the reopening of the Usher Hall and to judge for themselves how good the acoustics are. Having hummed discretely during Verdi's Anvil Chorus from Il Travatore and Va Pensiero from Nabucco earlier in the evening, the audience didn't need to be asked twice to join in with the City of Glasgow Chorus.

This was a fabulous concert that relaunched the Usher Hall in true style and hopefully Carreras will be tempted back to Edinburgh in the not too distant future.

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