February 10-12.

The voice that launched an amazing career back in the '60s is as beguiling now as it ever was; the capacity audience at Castle Harbour on Friday night settled down, rather timorously at first ("you can clap, it's all right'', she purred) for a musical flashback to the days when the flower-powered folk ballads mixed with images of jungle warfare and massacred students at Kent State. They were not disappointed as she left her indelible stamp on such greats as Bob Dylan, Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell.

But consummate artist that she is, Judy Collins still brings that sense of poignant relevance as she sings of and to today's equally troubled world. This was exquisitely demonstrated in her own composition, "Song for Sarajevo'', written after her visit there as a UNICEF ambassador in November.

The voice itself is in fine fettle, as it soars in sweet soprano or sinks caressingly into the lower range.

The rousing and inimitable tones of "Amazing Grace'', one of her many hit singles, heralded the imminent appearance of this all-American balladeer, and then she stepped onstage, svelte in black and a flowing rose-strewn shawl as she launched into the familiar strains of Neil Diamond's "Both Sides Now'' ("Moons and June and ferris wheels ...'').

The rest of the evening was a scattering of the old and the new, served up with some chatty asides -- inevitably about Bermuda's weather ("I brought all my summer clothes.''), but reminding us, too, that she is still a political lady. Without lingering on the fact that she was chosen to sing in the Presidential inauguration ceremonies, she did sing "Chelsea Morning'', now immortalised, for American Democrats at least, by the revelation that Bill named his daughter for that song.

This classically trained pianist accompanies herself at the keyboard for some of her numbers, and plays a synthesiser and guitar.

She is also accompanied by her musical director Russell Walden, no mean keyboards player himself, and immediately adopted as one of our own -- he is, after all, brother to fundraiser-extraordinaire Jane West.

Reminiscing about the salad days in Greenwich Village that were to lead to the first of 26 albums, she wryly quoted David Crosby's definition that "If you remember the '60s, you weren't there!'' and sang "Suzanne'', in tribute to the composer she discovered, Leonard Cohen.

Her long and close association with Bob Dylan was celebrated in the lovely "Just Like a Woman'' and "Blowing in the Wind''. A great burst of applause greeted "Mr. Tambourine Man'' but, tantalisingly, she sang only a snippet -- as she did also with "Blowing in the Wind''.

Turning to her guitar she gave us "Someday Soon'' and Harry Chapin's wonderful "Cat's in the Cradle'' before ending the first half with Joni Mitchell's aforementioned "Chelsea Morning''.

Bounding back after the intermission in a long, slinky purple skirt and beaded jacket, she sang, in nostalgic mood, some of her composer father Chuck Collins' numbers, including one she has just recorded of "Happy New Year''. A slight stumbling on the words presented no terrors for this seasoned performer: "I had trouble with that when I was a child, too,'' she beamed.

Then there was the sadly reflective "Secret Gardens of the Heart'' before she slid into what has become one of her signature pieces, Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns''.

There was only one encore but, presumably in an effort to get the audience singing, she professed to have forgotten the words, only to swing into a powerful rendition of one of her enduring hits, "From a Distance'', and reminding us, up close, that she is one of the great singers of our time.

---- Patricia Calnan MAGIC MOMENTS -- Judy Collins thrilled local crowds.