GARY BURGESS -- In Recital at St. John's Church -- October 23 and 24, 1993.

Bermuda's finest tenor made an all too brief return to the Bermuda concert platform over the weekend. Appearing on behalf of the Adult Education School, Gary Burgess sang at two enthusiastically received recitals at St. John's Church.

Accompanied by another highly gifted musician, Lloyd Matthew, he confirmed -- not that any is needed -- that the glorious tonal quality of his voice is matched by a rare artistic sensibility.

As he has spent most of his career overseas, Bermudians are, perhaps, not fully aware of the scope of this modest man's achievements, both as a performer, teacher and artistic director.

As associate professor of voice and opera at the State University of New York at Buffalo and, particularly as the director of their Opera Workshop, Mr.

Burgess has put Buffalo firmly on America's musical map. Besides appearing with most of the leading US opera companies, he has also taken leading guest roles with such European companies as the Greek National Opera and the Warsaw State Opera. In France, he was also the recipient of the 1984 Prix de Claude Debussy.

Last weekend, the gloriously rich timbre of his voice seemed as effortless as ever, so it was something of a shock to hear him announce, at the end of his opening Mozart aria, that he had virtually retired from singing opera.

Happily, he will continue to give recitals.

The aforementioned Concert Aria for Tenor is certainly a notoriously difficult piece; suffice to say that he held the long, sustaining notes with apparent ease, and with a mellowness of tone that seems heaven-made for the cadences of Mozart's music.

There followed three German songs by Reger and six of the 12-song cycle of Mendelssohn, the Liederkreis. The apparent simplicity of this beautiful song form, realised with such perfection by Mendelssohn, was imbued with a quiet lyricism by Mr. Burgess -- echoed also, by the sensitivity of Mr. Matthew's accompaniment.

In the second half of the programme he sang a quartet of the Early American Songs by the quintessential American composer, Aaron Copland. Simple Gifts, set to the Shaker hymn melody that also forms part of his Appalachian Spring suite, is probably the best known of these.

This was followed by four traditional negro spirituals, rather artfully arranged as concert pieces by H.T. Burleigh. Loveliest of all was the unaccompanied Were You There When They Crucified My Lord, performed with a poignance that, musically and emotionally, was highly moving.

A total change of mood came at the end of the concert, when Mr. Burgess sallied forth into the popular musical world, Phantom of the Opera-style.

Noting that he was soon to sing this Andrew Lloyd Webber piece with the Buffalo Philharmonic, he raised The Music of the Night to almost sublime heights -- in itself, quite an achievement.

Mr. Burgess appeared with Aaron Copland shortly before the composer's death in 1990 at the age of 90. He chose to sing another of his songs, Shall We Gather at the River, for his encore. And beautiful it was.

The good news is that this incomparably fine singer returns to perform Rossini's Stabat Mater for Marjorie Pettit's Bermuda Heritage Concert next May.

PATRICIA CALNAN TOP TENOR -- Internationally acclaimed Gary Burgess -- a Bermudian who last weekend came back to the Island to perform with Lloyd Matthew.