IT WOULD probably be unwise to say that the world famous tenor, José Carreras, brought the house down last night.

It was the gala re-opening of the refurbished Usher Hall after all. And it is only four years since that other crowd-pulling songster, Tony Bennett, did literally that. Hours after his concert in 1996, rather like the Walls of Jericho, the ceiling came tumbling down.

There was no danger of history repeating itself last night. The £9 million facelift has left the auditorium looking glittering, fresh and strong enough to take anything Carreras, soprano Lisa Milne, and the might of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and City of Glasgow Chorus could throw at it.

The evening was largely celebratory and a typical range of music with a mainly Mediterranean flavour – from Neopolitan song to Spanish zarzuela – found Carreras and Milne in affectionate form. It says a lot for the Scottish soprano that she could hold her own beside the living legend.

One could only assume, however, that the main part of the auditorium could hear the two singers above the orchestra. There's a quirk in the acoustics which distorted the sound totally, subsuming the soloists from my vantage point – the very side of the top gallery.

But there was a true sense of occasion among the capacity audience. They lapped up the potboilers saved for the second half – Milne in a sparkling I could Have Danced All Night, Carreras in a mesmerising Some Enchanted Evening , and both in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s If I Loved You from Carousel.

Then there were the encores, all met with adulatory applause. The standing ovation recognised the professionalism of the BBC SSO under the baton of Carreras’s nephew, David Giménez.

But there was a serious note to the evening. Carreras was there solely on the initiative of Betsy Stirling, and as a tribute to her husband Sheriff Hamish Stirling, who died of leukaemia two years ago. The real success of the concert was in raising over £312,000 for research.

Mrs Stirling wrote to Carreras following her husband’s death and the tenor, who recovered from the disease several years ago, agreed to donate his services for nothing, as did the rest of the artists.

The re-opening celebrations continue at the Usher Hall today with a children’s concert this afternoon and an evening concert, both by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

There is a change to tonight’s programme. The legendary violinist, Salvatore Accardo, due to play Brahms’ Violin Concerto, was forced to pull out earlier this week due to a family bereavement. His place has been taken at the last minute by the Viennese violinist Karin Adam.

The concert also features the premier of Scottish composer Craig Armstrong’s When Morning Turns to Light , commissioned especially for the occasion.

For those who missed last night’s Carreras concert, there’s a chance to catch the highlights tomorrow night on BBC 1 at 10.15.

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