She also has a quite rare stage magnetism, a charisma, to use an overworked word. She is an imposing figure and she manages to combine authority with a kind of beguiling innocence. Her three arias, Verdi’s O don fatale and Massenet’s Les lettres and Les larmes, covered a variety of moods and she was, to my ears and eyes, totally convincing in all of them.

The orchestra, under the direction of the visiting Dutch conductor Arjan Tien, another old favourite with Durban audiences, made a significant contribution to the operatic first half of the programme, which included the La Forza del Destino overture, a compendium of the opera’s dramatic and eloquent melodies.

After the interval came a compelling performance of Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 in G major, a wonderful work which reveals that the composer was much more than “a simple Czech musician”, as he modestly described himself. - Michael Green