AWARD-WINNING opera producer Ellen Kent brings two new shows to Malvern this weekend - Tosca and Carmen.

Both operas feature international soloists, highly praised chorus and full orchestra, and also boast new sets.

Bizet’s Carmen will inspire all the heat and passion of Spain on Saturday, March 26, while the day before Tosca will have all the grandeur and power of Rome, and will star Vladimir Dragos as Scarpia with international sopranos Maria Tonina and Alyona Kistenyova as Tosca.

A magnificent, traditional, fully-staged opera, Puccini’s Tosca is set against the dramatic landscape of Rome and the Napoleonic Wars and the corrupt Italian regime of that time.

Directed as a Gothic, Victorian horror story, Puccini’s Tosca is an epic tale of true love and treachery featuring torture, murder and suicide alongside some of opera’s best-known music, and is based on a play by Victorien Sardou. It was once described as a “shabby little shocker.”

It tells of Floria Tosca’s true love for artist Mario Cavaradossi. Tosca is forced to enter into a deal with the Chief of Police Baron Scarpia, in order to save Cavaradossi, her lover, from execution. Scarpia’s price is Tosca’s seduction, but she cannot go through with it, and in desperation she stabs Scarpia to death. Cavaradossi is executed and, realising all is lost, Tosca throws herself from the battlements to her death In preparation for the current tour and her new staging of Tosca, Ellen took a trip to Puccini’s house in Italy.

She said: “It was quite magical. I didn’t think it would be quite so inspiring. It was almost eerie – exactly as you would imagine Puccini to have created, with beautiful memorabilia everywhere. There were his shoes and clothes and pipes and all the models of his operas and his actual scores with all his notes on them.”

“My productions are always rather beautiful and I suddenly realised that in my view, I have been doing what Puccini would have liked and wanted. It felt like meeting somebody I knew.”

This most popular of operas, with its tender and moving arias Recondita Armonia, Vissi d’Arte and E Lucevan le Stelle, is a heady mixture of true love, torture and treachery, with two of the best roles for tenor and soprano, plus a pure evil villain as the baritone.

Then it’s the turn of Seville to come to Malvern with the hottest ticket in town with an opera that will feature Caspian - a majestic white Andalucian stallion and a rescue donkey !

The evening will also star Liza Kadelnik, the celebrated international mezzo-soprano from the Romanian National Opera, as Carmen.

The stunning new set reflects the magnificent architecture of Seville with its Roman and Moorish influences, which includes the main square, the bull ring and the tobacco factory, which was reputedly one of the most important in Europe.

Carmen is the story of the bewitching gypsy girl whose tantalising beauty lures a soldier to desertion and leads to her own murder. The opera includes some of the most evocative and best-loved melodies in opera – The Habanera, The Seguidilla, The Flower Song, The Chanson Bohème and perhaps the best-known baritone aria of all The Toreador’s Song.

The production includes a spectacular dance sequence by Caspian the stallion, ridden by Joe Butcher from AB Films. Caspian has appeared in many films including War Horse and Robin Hood.

Carmen also includes the special guest star a donkey. Ellen’s mother ran the Spanish equivalent of the RSPCA which saved the lives of many donkeys and to continue this good work Ellen has included a donkey from various sanctuaries to help them raise money.

Maria Tonina and Alyona Kistenyova will be singing Michaela, with Maria returning after her spectacular success in Traviata and Rigoletto.

Tickets are on sale at the Box Office 01684 892277 and online at malvern-theatres.co.uk.