VERDI’S stunning masterpiece, La Traviata, returns to Malvern’s Festival Theatre for one night only at the beginning of March.

Under the guiding influence of award-winning producer Ellen Kent it will be a traditional production with sumptuous sets, and costumes by the renowned Ukrainian designer Nadia Shvets, whose work is well known from the National Ukrainian opera of Kharkiv.

La Traviata is Verdi’s outstanding interpretation of one of the most popular love stories of the 19th century, La Dame aux Camelias by Alexander Dumas, a tragic tale of searing passion and memorable music.

Dumas made no secret of the fact that his book and play were autobiographically based on his own affair with Marie Duplessis, who died in 1847 of tuberculosis at the age of 23.

Kent was fascinated by the book which she read whilst rehearsing Traviata in the Ukraine in 2011 and she adds a scene from the book to the overture where Dumas, known in the book as Amand, attends an auction at a Paris apartment not realising it is his ex-mistress who has recently died and her effects are being sold off to pay her debts.

Starring opposite Alyona Kistenyova is Ruslan Zinevych the international Ukrainian tenor who sang many times in Italy including singing with Pavarotti.

Winner of many international awards, Ruslan has sung many times for Ellen over the last few years including her La Traviata at the Royal Albert Hall and continues to impress audiences with his passion and power.

Making his debut as Alfredo in an Ellen Kent production is the Spanish tenor Giorgio Meladze. Originally from Georgia, he has acquired critical acclaim in Europe, singing in Milan, Spain and across Europe.

Also appearing will be Giorgio Meladze who sang with Jose Carreras at the Austrian opera festival Tiroler Festspiele Erl this summer and Maria Tonina who plays Violetta. In 2005 her operatic talent won her a scholarship from the CEE Musiktheater, Vienna, which led to taking part in the Summer Academy Master Classes in Heiligenkreuz, Austria.

This operatic version of La Dame Aux Camelias tells the romantic story about the love and life of the courtesan, Violetta.

Based on a true story, it tells of the passionate consumptive Violetta and her doomed love for the aristocratic Alfredo. There are many echoes of Verdi’s own life in Traviata and he threw himself into the music. This was also Verdi’s venture into operatic realism as was Rigoletto, rejecting distant historical settings.

The highlights include the Brindisi, the best known drinking song in opera, the duet Un Di Felice and the haunting aria Addio Del Passato.

La Traviata appears at the Festival Theatre on Monday, March 2 (7.30pm).