Richard Cowan as Guglielmo tended to shout, even in his big aria.

Jane Dutton began with raw tone quality as Beatrice, finding confidence for her big aria.

Her big aria in the second act, though, could take more shaping.

She took a while to warm up, but toward the end of Act I - unfortunately after her big aria - she hit her stride.

She sang wonderfully, in a strong, emotionally charged voice that made something stirring of her big second-act aria.

In a half-falsetto, he sang the slow, languid beginning of Daisy's first big aria.

Still, in his big aria to Charon he achieves much of the time-stopping beauty.

Franco Corelli phrases inelegantly in parts of his big aria.

Now those very first notes of Act 3 are just as important to me as the big aria.

But tonight his handling of the big aria and indeed all his music was fully convincing; thrilling, even.