Young singers go distance at the mezzo's masterclass

A masterclass with a world-famous opera singer is a bit like three minutes in the ring with Mike Tyson. They're both intense experiences and, if you manage to retain consciousness long enough, they both end with the ringing of a bell.

In fact, in Bernadette Greevy's masterclasses at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, participants get 20 minutes at a time of the mezzo-soprano's undivided attention. Some of those taking part yesterday might have wished it were shorter. But it's a hard fact of life in the world of singing lessons: the masterclass is never over till the bell-lady rings.

Comparisons with Mike Tyson end there: at least Bernadette Greevy won't bite your ear off if she doesn't like you. The worst she'll be is picky. "I know I'm being picky," she told an English student, Amanda Pyke, "but I can't hear the `p' in your `help'. Your `cometh from the Lord' is excellent."

If you closed your eyes at times you might think you were hearing a mating ritual between exotic birds. Not that Bernadette Greevy would be worried by such comparisons.

From her lofty perch in the aviary of world music her advice is much sought by aspiring singers and her classes have become an established fixture in the Dublin music calendar.

Like the Dublin comedian, Brendan O'Carroll, her work evinces a strong concern with people's "wobbly bits". They're not the same bits, admittedly. The ones that Bernadette Greevy is worried about are somewhere near the bottom of the rib cage, as she indicated when dissecting a phrase ("que les tous") from one of her students:

Running over two days, each participant getting three sessions with the maestro and sitting in on all the others, too, the classes are hard work. Their success can be gauged later this year, when the IMMA hosts a concert by the star and some of the students.