The silent city of Mdina came to life on Saturday evening with the melodic voices of Malta's top singing couple - tenor Joseph Calleja and his soprano wife Tatiana Lisnic - but also with the rousing applause of an evidently satisfied audience.

At the end of a two-hour long concert in the majestic Cathedral Square, the couple and orchestra conductor Brian Schembri were accorded repeated standing ovations by the 3,000-strong audience - a spokesman for the organisers, Renaissance Productions Ltd, said another 300 or so when on rooftops. In return, Ms Lisnic and Mr Calleja sang a number of encores. Among them was Nessun Dorma, which Mr Calleja dedicated to all children who were suffering, including his six-year-old cousin who is battling leukemia.

Both the promoters and the artistes were satisfied with what must rate as RPL's most successful event so far.

An altruistic Mr Calleja attributed this to the audience: "The real stars were the members of the audience. They had the sensitivity of joining in. I really could feel the electricity on the night," he said.

Ms Lisnic and Mr Calleja were accompanied by the Sofia national opera orchestra and the Mirabitur Choir.

The main sponsors of the concert, held to mark the 10th anniversary of Mr Calleja's career, were Go Group, HSBC Bank Malta and Jaguar. The Malta Tourism Authority, Air Malta, Arkadia, Coca Cola, Diamonds International and MIDI plc were support sponsors.

An RPL spokesman confirmed yesterday that Mr Calleja will appear in Macbeth at the Astra Theatre, in Gozo, this October.