Gillian Keith is a Canadian soprano who is going places, not least with the German song repertoire.

She opened her festival recital with songs by Schubert, which were not only perfectly pitched but had superb diction.

A German friend of mine told me Ms Keith's use of language was spot on.

A stunning blonde dressed in white, Ms Keith has a beautiful bell-like quality to her voice and also a nice measure of mezzo, making her range quite magnificent and full of colour.

She is also no slouch when it comes to the French language. She followed the Schubert with songs by Debussy and Faur, singing of lost love and flowers in the field of a pied piper and the wistfulness of dreams.

Then it was a selection of songs by Richard Strauss and Rachmaninov before ending her session with some modern English songs by John McCabe, David Matthews and Adrian Williams, part of a project based on poems about Presteigne in Wales.

Ms Keith won the Kathleen Ferrier Award in 2000 and has worked with many leading orchestras in England and Europe.

Later this year, she will sing the role of Titania in Benjamin Britten's a Midsummer Night's Dream at Convent Garden.