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Organisers thought an audience of 80 people would be achievable, but sold 130 tickets, with a wait list of 38 people.

Almost all the ticketed people arrived to enjoy a range of finger food before the performance.

The missing ticketholders were on fire trucks and members of a number of district CFAs, including Mia Mia.

Two slightly sooty firefighters arrived a little late for the performance to a welcome relief from the stress of fire fighting.

The performers arrived in Redesdale on Friday and were hosted at Redesdale Estate. Not long after they arrived, 25mm of rain fell in 10 minutes and created local flooding at Redesdale Estate.

Mattia, one of the opera singers whose family owns a farm and vineyard in Tuscany, donned gumboots, grabbed a broom and helped stop the water flooding the house, singing as he swished away the water.

The following afternoon, the fire that had held up some of the audience, suspected to have been caused by a lightning strike from Friday’s wild weather, started just below Redesdale Estate on the river.

‘‘The people here must be very resilient,’’ performer Gaetano Bonfante said.

The group had only been in the area for two days and experienced both flood and fire, but they made it to the Mia Mia hall — without any more natural disasters to thwart them.

The audience experienced an event of superb singing and piano playing by an accomplished group of performers.

The wood panelling on the walls, floor and ceiling of the Mia Mia hall provided excellent acoustics.

There were no microphones, no amplification, just beautiful sounds that had the audience clapping and cheering with several standing ovations.

Bunches of olive and eucalypt branches, along with Australian and Italian flags, decorated the small stage.

The performance included songs of passion, humour, pathos, as well as the attempted ‘‘seduction’’ of at least two audience members, a fake dispute between the accompanist and Mattia, and an offer, fortunately rejected, to the MC for him to sing while Mattia did the introductions.

The MC for the performance, Howard Nathan, provided a brief overview of each opera, and introduced each of the selected songs as well as adding to the bonhomie and humour present throughout the evening.

The final song, Time to Say Goodbye,was dedicated to Ted Bennett who passed away the week before the performance.

At the end of the performance, the Mia Mia Mechanics’ Institute president and Mia Mia fire brigade captain, Anthony Ryan, thanked the performers for the evening.

Lynne and David McDonald were also thanked for for sponsoring the performers through the Alice Amy McDonald Scholarship Trust.

Audience member Anthony Ryan’s advice to would-be future opera recital attendees was to get in early for next year and book your tickets.

‘‘Most of those here tonight have asked for more such events,’’ Mr Ryan said.

For information or to register your interest in future events, email miamiasocial@gmail.com