Enjoy four of the best

Opera North’s new production of Mozart’s effervescent comedy The Marriage of Figaro is directed by Jo Davies, who returns to the company following previous productions of Ruddigore and Carousel.

Christopher Alden revives his blisteringly intense production of La vida breve with French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels as Salud, in a double bill with a new Gianni Schicchi, starring the outstanding British baritone Christopher Purves in the title role.

La Traviata continues after a highly successful run of Alessandro Talevi’s opulent and sensational Belle Époque production in autumn 2014, with new cast members Anna Jeruc-Kopec as Violetta and Stephen Gadd as Germont.

Mozart’s sublime comedy, The Marriage of Figaro, sung in English, is one of opera’s most tender, funny and heart-warming works.

From the famous overture which sets the scene for comic misadventures in an opera aptly subtitled The Follies of a Day, Mozart’s music expresses all the joy and pain of love, along with the agony and ecstasy of desire.

Verdi’s La Traviata, sung in Italian with English titles, is a tear-jerker that proved an instant hit with audiences in Opera North’s autumn 2014 season.

Director Christopher Alden’s ferocious take on Manuel de Falla’s short exuberant opera, La vida breve, is an intense, unforgettable experience.

An all-or-nothing tragedy of a woman who loves a worthless man, the atmosphere is heightened by the influence of Andalusian folk song and Spanish dance rhythms.

Originally staged as one of Opera North’s groundbreaking Eight Little Greats season of one-act operas in 2004, Alden’s production received extravagant audience and critical praise. It is revived with a new cast including French soprano Anne Sophie Duprels (Cio-Cio San, Madama Butterfly) in the devastating lead role of Salud.

A perfect, light-hearted companion to La vida breve, Gianni Schicchi is Puccini’s only outright comedy, based on an episode in Dante’s Inferno. Puccini’s exquisite music delightfully illustrates the greed and absurdity driving the actions of a dying man’s scheming relatives.

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