AMICI Forever, also known as Opera Band left the festival audience howling, whistling, and applauding, on their feet for the second time, after the encore 'Nessun Dorma', last Friday evening at the RSJ Performance Centre.

On a stage with just a grand piano, some well placed risers and aided by some tasteful lighting, they delivered their product: selected 'hits' from the operatic repertoire.

They are not a 'band' in the sense that they play no instruments; but one gets they sense that they are a band, in another sense of the word, as in Band of Brothers, Of Angels.

They are a gifted, international ensemble of singers; Jo Appleby, and Tsakane Valentine, two sopranos who would have pleased with their stunning good looks alone, had they never sang a single note; but sing they did, and gloriously; and two tenors, Geoff Sewell, and David Habbin, and Nick Garrett , a bass-baritone who also played the piano.

I imagine the ladies in the audience felt much the same about them as the men did about the sopranos. It didn't hurt that they too could sing.

Product I say, because there was clearly an effort to sell their concept; the sexy outfits, the enhanced backing tracks, the stage movement which at times seemed a little pointless.

Otherwise it borrowed from the world of catwalks and models, and truth to tell, they certainly had the goods.

As someone somewhere has aptly said,'Genius makes its own work' .And these very talented performers are working. They performed on Friday evening selections from works by Dvorak, Puccini, Michel Le Grand and others.

They opened with an adaptation of a saraband by Handel that gave a good indication of what was in store. It was going to be eclectic. And it was. We heard from Holtz's 'The Planets', Jupiter, to modern lyrics; likewise, the lovely Pavane of Faure's in similar manner. From "The Pearl Fishers', Au Fond du Temple Saint, and the beautiful, and beautifully sung "Song To The Moon', from Dvorak's popular Rusalka. Two selections from Carmen, Habanera, and Song of The Matador were well received by the audience, who were clearly loving everything, if the volume of the applause was any indication.

The first half of the programme ended with the audience joining in the Neapolitan song 'Funiculi, Funicula.' After the intermission the singers sat near the piano, Nick Garrett played.

He sang The Music Never Ends', Marilyn Berg's and Michel Le Grand's much recorded classic, which didn't sound out of place in the least among the other selections.

There was a tribute to Elvis, called I think The Civil War Medley. I cringed a moment at the thought of a South African singing a paean to 'Dixie', but then it ended with 'All my Trials, Lord'.

I confessed that I went to the concert with a show me attitude, and took a while to warm to the idea. But there were many undeniable moments of very beautiful singing, and by the time the band sang their encore I acknowledged to myself that, well, yes, I had been entertained. And that surely is what AMICI are all about.