The exquisitely sung evening has also been beautifully produced, visually conjuring the haunted continuity of nightmares.

Manji Khan was noted for his serene face while singing, and earned popularity amongst younger listeners because of his choice to punctuate the more serious classical fare with exquisitely sung lighter pieces.

This season, the gala showed the Institution as collector, offering acts from operas along with an array of stars presenting exquisitely sung arias as testimonials to the house.

The score, arranged by Linda Twine, is almost entirely spirituals, exquisitely sung by a fine cast.

On the debut album, Ms. Houston's vocals sounded like they had been patched together in the studio; phrases were exquisitely sung and largely disconnected, their timbre changing from line to line.

Her successes there included Adèle in Rossini's Le comte Ory, Micaëla in Carmen, Violetta in La traviata and the title role in Massenet's Manon ("exquisitely sung and acted").

But the performance I play most is Christopher Hogwood's account of Handel's 1754 revision, a salient feature of which is the soprano version of "But who made abide," sung exquisitely by Emma Kirkby.

The Villa-Lobos score was sung exquisitely by Margaret O'Keefe.

Most illuminating is a just-released album of familiar and obscure Duke melodies exquisitely sung by the opera singer Dawn Upshaw.

It was an exquisitely sung Kyrie, however, that established Mr. Rilling's view of the mass as an essentially devotional rather than a quasi-operatic event.