When mezzo-soprano Jane Farge joins the Bermuda Philharmonic Society on October 29 to sing Elgar's Sea Pictures it will mark the return to concert platform of a much-admired but seldom heard voice.

While the singer was well known to local audiences some years ago, for personal reasons she took a break for a while, but is now back -- thanks to the encouragement and support of Dr. Gary Burgess, with whom she has been studying for the past year.

It is a professional association which clearly delights her.

"I studied at the Royal College of Music,'' Mrs. Farge enthuses, "and in four lessons I learned more from Gary than I learned in six years in London -- and the Royal College is very good. He is a wonderful teacher who has helped me such a lot, and he has been a great inspiration.'' Mrs. Farge is particularly excited about singing Sea Pictures because it has long been one of her favourite works.

"It really is the most beautiful music -- Elgar at his best,'' she says. "I have been wanting to sing this for a long time, and when I began my lessons with Gary last year it was one of the things I started to sing.'' Then her mentor, who is also the Musical Director of the Bermuda Philharmonic, asked: "Do you want to sing this with an orchestra?'' It would be the culmination of a dream, and Mrs. Farge readily agreed.

While she has heard the work many times sung by some of the world's great mezzo-sopranos, Mrs. Farge is quick to assure that she has not used their recordings for reference.

"It is not good for performers to listen to recordings because you tend to copy. I think it is good to approach something by yourself first, and to have your own ideas,'' she explains. "It is helpful to listen to a recording if it is something modern, but even then I try not to.'' From an early age, Mrs. Farge exhibited a special musical talent, and while she enjoyed singing at school, it was piano and clarinet that she studied from age 13 at the Royal College of Music, where she was a junior exhibitor. This meant that, during the week she attended regular school in her home town of Rochford, Essex and on Saturdays travelled up to the College in London.

It wasn't until age 19, when she was a senior at the Royal College of Music, that Mrs. Farge began to study singing.

"I didn't really know I had a voice until then,'' she admits. "It started by accident. I needed a second study, so I auditioned as a pianist. It wasn't until I began my second year that I made singing my first study.'' Surprisingly, while the singer says she always felt she was a mezzo-soprano, her teacher at the Royal College was equally certain she was a soprano, and trained her as such.

Today, there are no doubts.

"I have been singing as a mezzo for ten years now,'' she says, "I don't think my voice fully developed until then, but thanks to Gary's teaching, it is a lot brighter than it was a few years ago. It is still rich, but I think it is a lot more flexible.'' The multi-talented Mrs. Farge, who not only teaches piano and vocal coaching privately, but also is the organist at Peace Lutheran Church as well as playing at the Pink Beach Club, says there are so many composers she loves than narrowing down her favourites is "almost impossible''.

She admits, however, Elgar holds a special place in her affections, and she is very fond of Handel, Benjamin Britten, Vaughn Williams and Samuel Barber.

"As a singer I particularly enjoy Handel, and I absolute adore the Sea Pictures and the arias from Samson and Delilah.'' She also loves singing German lieder, and works by Schubert.

While next weekend's concert will mark Mrs. Farge's return to public performance, there is more good news for those who have missed her beautiful voice.

She will have a role in the Philharmonic Society's Christmas production, Amahl and the Night Visitors, to be conducted by Dr. Burgess, and there is more to come in 2001.

"I am doing a full vocal recital at City Hall next September,'' she announces. "I haven't done that for 15 years, so it is going to be really exciting.'' By her own admission slimmer, and with a trendy new hair cut, the "new'' Mrs.

Farge is clearly delighted to be back doing what she loves best.

"I am so happy to be singing again,'' she smiles. "Once I start I really love it. Singing is part of my soul.'' The mezzo-soprano says her favourite hobbies are reading and watching good films. She is also interested in "anything about homeopathy or alternative medicine'', which she finds "very interesting''.

CONCERT FACTS The Bermuda Philharmonic Society's concert on October 29 will take place at the Ruth Seaton James Centre for the Performing Arts, beginning at 8 p.m. The programme will open with Mozart's "Jupiter'' symphony, and also include four of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance marches.

Tickets ($25) will be sold at the Bermuda Musical & Dramatic Society's Daylesford Theatre box office between 12 noon and 2 p.m. daily until October 28.