CALGARY - When American Idol judge Simon Cowell developed Il Divo in 2003, he hoped to create a mature boy-band that sounded like The Three Tenors, but looked like models.

If last night's show at the Saddledome was any indication, he hit the nail right on the head.

More a product than four world-class opera singers coming together to share their talents, the men of Il Divo are masters at making the ladies swoon and selling their manufactured brand of pop-opera to the masses.

From their perfect looks, Armani suits, well-trained voices and beaming smiles, the multilingual act -- made up of Spanish baritone Carlos Marin, French pop artist Sebastien Izambard, American tenor David Miller and Swiss tenor Urs Buhler -- is a record label's dream.

Last night, the screams said it all. As a white curtain dropped to the stage (one of five round white platforms), revealing the foursome, shrieks of pleasure and excitement filled the arena.

Middle-aged women threw bouquets of flowers onto the stage while waving flags of the men's home countries, in vain attempts at getting noticed.

Il Divo opened with a track from Siempre, their new CD, called Notte do Luce (Nights in White Satin) in which each of the quartet took turns doing solos before coming together for the song's finale. (This is a format that would be used over and over and over again throughout the night.)

Then it was into a 90-minute set, sung in Spanish, Italian, French and English, which included I Believe in You, All By Myself, Unchained Melody, Without You, Caruso and West Side Story's beautiful Somewhere.

Backed by a phenomenal full orchestra, the sexy men each showed off their vocal talents but the definite standout was Marin, whose powerful voice highlighted almost every number. In fact, the only thing outshining the practised baritone was the large portion of cheese he and the rest Il Divo served up.

Corny banter such as, "Our only purpose here tonight is to pleasure you -- with our singing, of course," created a few too many eye-rolling moments which, at times, overshadowed the music.

That, however, seemed irrelevant to the near sold-out crowd, which swallowed every bite. And while Il Divo may not have brought the best concert to the 'Dome this year, they brought the classiest. Even the ushers were wearing their finest suits.

Opener William Joseph, the classically trained pianist from Phoenix whose debut album Within was produced by David Foster, had issues with his presentation.

Although the crowd appeared to love his showboating, which included him playing the piano upside-down at one point, they likely did not enjoy the awkward backing tracks.

During his captivating 30-minute set, made up of his own material and versions of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir and Paul Simon's Homeward Bound, the audio recordings proved extremely distracting.