Review: Some flaws, but a lustrous performance by soprano Renee Fleming

American soprano Renée Fleming commands a significant international following, and with good reason. She has both a voluptuous voice that can swallow all in its path and a girl-next-door charm when she speaks to the audience.

Her singing, personality and customised bling can illuminate a hall, which is how she lifted people to their feet at Thursday's recital.

The programme was a relaxed patchwork affair that ended where Fleming is at her most magnetic: a diva reaching the rafters in three early 20th-century showpieces by Cilea, Refice and Zandonai, topped by encores that included an ultra-cool Summertime and an invitation for everyone to join in the refrain of I Could Have Danced All Night.