This month's must-see - Mezzo in the Med

This month we make no apology for featuring yet another outstanding musical event as our standout, must-see event for the month of April.

On April 22 at 8 p.m. the brilliant American mezzo soprano Kate Aldrich will be appearing at our national theatre the Manoel, in a programme entitled, A Great Operatic Evening, with the Malta National Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Mro Michael Laus.

She will sing arias from Gounod's The Damnation of Faust, Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviiglia and, La Cenerentola, Werther's Lucrezia Borgia and Bizet's Carmen.

Ms Aldrich is probably the outstanding mezzo-soprano of her day. She has sung with nearly all the major opera companies around the world, including the Metropolitan in New York, the San Francisco Opera, the Hamburg State Opera, Teatro Regio, in Turin, Opera Montreal, Teatro San Carlo in Lisbon and the New York City Opera.

Her roles have included Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviiglia, Angelina in La Cenerentola, Fenena in Nabucco and the eponymous heroine in Bizet's Carmen.

This will be her second visit to Malta. She was here early last year with other singers from the Metropolitan Opera House, on the initiative of former Manoel Theatre chairman John Lowell.

A very special treat is in store for lovers of opera and of great singing, and it's on for one night only.