Lyric Opera's production of Verdi's Aida at the NCH was preceded by a saga of three tenors. Tenors A and B having cried off, for family and health reasons respectively, Neville Ackermann saved the show by standing in at the 11th hour. Unfortunately, he had neither the range nor the vocal heft required. True, he was musically alert and offered some civilised singing in the lyrical parts of the Nile scene and in all of the final tomb duet, but he was overwhelmed in the ensembles and overparted in the heroic moments.

By contrast, Nancy Yuen was fully equipped to cope with all aspects of the title role. She is not a natural Verdi spinto, but her gleaming, well-focused top knitted so well with her occasional use of chest voice that it didn't matter. She was particularly good in the Nile scene, where she sailed through the hazards of O patria mia with consummate ease, delivering some ravishingly soft high notes on the way.

The other main principals were disappointing. Mezzo Linda Hibberd was a tremulous and squally Amneris; and neither baritone John Fletcher nor bass John Milnes had the requisite depth of tone for their roles as Ethiopian King and High Priest. It was left to the smallest roles to provide the best singing: tenor Colm Lalor was an incisive messenger; Sandra Oman was a rock-steady off-stage priestess; and, especially, bass Eugene Armstrong was a sonorous and well-projected King of Egypt.

The large chorus was impressive in full ensemble; heard on their own, individual voice choirs made too many unsupported and raw sounds. Vivian Coates's staging suffered from lack of rehearsal time, as did some of the orchestral playing, notably the brass in the famous march. That aside, I was impressed by the conducting of David Angus, whose general control of the large forces, coupled with his dramatically apt pacing, made him probably the true star of the evening.