Strolling the stage of Carnegie Hall on Saturday night with a wireless microphone, Russell Watson was singing Verdi, more or less.

Although he often sang Verdi early in his career, he later concentrated more on Mozart and Richard Strauss.

Clarinet Sings Verdi.

"Having a Romanian or Australian or American sing Verdi," he said, "well, Verdi wouldn't understand it."

Never -at least in this century - have there been so few sopranos qualified to sing Verdi as there are today, and Ms. Dunn is qualified.

But I sing Verdi to it and it's putty in my hands.

Craig Siriani, tenor, will sing Verdi and Puccini.

"Then maybe I'll totally change my repertory and sing only Verdi," he said.

Singers sense, however, an inflationary trend in the world of pitch - one that forces them to sing Verdi and Mozart at altitudes the composers never intended.

Some members of the Westchester group dislike "Messiah" and drop out for the fall term, returning to sing Verdi or Mozart in the spring.