The Newport Music Festival unveiled its biggest gun last night, Icelandic tenor Gardar Thor Cortes, who was making his North American debut to much fanfare. But as debuts go, it was less then thrilling.

Cortes, 34, who sang at The Breakers, ended up scaling back his announced program, dropping most of the opera arias and substituting them with things like Johnny Mercer tunes and a couple of Icelandic folk songs. For most of the night he coasted, letting pianist John Bayless step in with solo arrangements of the big tunes, such as Puccini’s soaring Nessun dorma, which Cortes was to sing at the end of the program.

He opened the evening with crossover selections from his platinum-garnering album Cortes. But they had none of the passion or drama of the disk, which led me to believe he is either much more compelling in the studio, or he was running on empty last night.

And that might have been the case. Newport resident Kaya Zaklynsky, who was hosting Cortes, said the singer was getting over the flu. But festival director Mark Malkovich played down any talk of illness and said Cortes was simply dealing with a case of phlegm.

Whatever the reason, Cortes just didn’t have it. On disk, he is capable of a glorious sound, with a ringing upper register. .

Instead, we heard a lot of fluff. And even in selections like “Maria”, from West Side Story, the edge was lacking.

But even his lighter offerings didn’t have a lot of appeal. He opened with an understated account of “Nella Fantasia,” the Ennio Morricone song from his album, and followed that with Mauro Malavasi’s “Romanza.”

After intermission, Cortes was back with a group of Donizetti arias that also did little to show off his voice.

All in all, there was not much singing, and nothing that tugged at the heart, or that gave us a sense of the Cortes that has made him such a sensation abroad. Chalk it up to illness, or an off night. Either way, it was a disappointment.

cgray@projo.com