A generous selection of arias, ensembles and choruses from eight of Verdi's stage works provided the fare at Saturday's centenary concert, which featured three Italian soloists.

Francesca Rinaldi is a fine Verdi soprano with a strong command of rhythm and phrasing. She traversed the high and wide note spans of her angst-ridden arias from Trovatore, Ballo IMaschera and Forza Del Destino with aplomb. She didn't float any quiet high notes, but she did lighten her tones considerably in Leonora's La Vergine Degli Angeli from Forza and, most effectively, in Aida's monologue Ritorna Vincitor.

Giuseppe Altomare, a young baritone with an assured technique and a good range, used his slightly clouded mid-tones and his control of line to give credibility to the ardour, anger and gravitas of the baritone characters in Trovatore, Ballo and Ernani, respectively, and to the brooding intensity of Macbeth and Rigoletto. His phrasing was exemplary and his confident top notes enhanced the climaxes of arias and ensembles alike.

Renzo Zulian delivered a hair-raising Di Quella Pira, sung without choral backing, but complete with extended high notes. But that trumpet top, delivered throughout with notable strain, was about all the tenor had to offer. His phrasing was choppy and he ignored all of Verdi's "pp" markings in brutal renderings of what were supposed to be songs of love, regret or both.

Apart from his tendency to short-change in the piano introductions, accompanist Alistair Dawes was a tower of supportive strength. The Limerick Voices, conducted by Colette Davis, backed the soloists with strong attack and warm, albeit light-bottomed, tone. Their unison singing in choruses from Nabucco and Lombardi was very good, and they produced tremendous volume in a rousing performance of the triumphal scene from Aida.