Review: Katherine Jenkins brings more than just music to Cambridge

The Welsh soprano fielded questions, took a request and told some amusing anecdotes at the Corn Exchange on Wednesday (May 15).

As part of the tour to support her latest album, Guiding Light, the 38-year-old singing star brought An Evening with Katherine Jenkins - which included four costume changes - to Cambridge.

Starting out in a lovely red dress, Katherine came out after the London Concert Orchestra - led by her long-term maestro Anthony Inglis - had performed a couple of numbers.

First-half songs included Finlandia and Symphony No. 9, Op. 125 (Ode to Joy), as well as two tracks from Guiding Light: the gorgeous and heartfelt Jealous of the Angels and Never Enough, taken from The Greatest Showman, which Katherine revealed she sings to her young daughter as a lullaby.

During the first half, Katherine changed once, into a blue dress, and then came out for the second half in a delightful pink number.

In the interval, audience members wrote down questions and comments on bits of paper and Katherine, whose final dress of the evening was yellow, read some of them out.

They ranged from statements of adoration to questions like "If your husband leaves you, will you marry me?" and "Do you shave your legs?".

Katherine also recounted an amusing story of when a fan in Wales failed to recognise it was her when talking to her outside the concert venue earlier in the day.

Music-wise, the tunes that shone brightest in the second half were Xander's Song (a tribute to her infant son off the new album), the Dolly Parton-penned I Will Always Love You - a request from an audience member which was sung in Italian - and Andrea Bocelli's Time to Say Goodbye (Con te partirò).

The encore was a rousing We Are the Champions by Queen.

Katherine looked wonderful and sounded in fine voice throughout. Some of her song choices were a little surprising but worked well nevertheless.

The only gripe I would have is that she spent quite a lot of time backstage when changing her outfits, and as such didn't sing as many songs or answer as many questions as perhaps many people would have hoped.