IT has been quite a week for two Irish sopranos, what with Virginia Kerr stepping in to save the day at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden on Saturday night when the lead soprano in its acclaimed new production of Michael Tippett's opera The Midsummer Marriage was taken ill, and Orla Boylan landing a major Italian singing prize, the ASLICA competition.

According to Orla's teacher at the College of Music, Mary Brennan, who has just returned from the scene of her triumph - La Scala, Milan, no less, though Mary modestly points out that the competition didn't actually take place in the main foyer but in a concourse on the third floor - the prize consists of a five month course of training in Italy for two years running, during which the young singers rehearse and perform three operas in one of the smaller Italian opera houses.

This is just the second year that the competition has been open to entrants from outside Italy, and of 64 singers who made it through the preliminary auditions to the first round, Orla was the only soprano to get to the final seven.