Opera is the art of extreme passion, an art that kindles in audiences emotions of a rare intensity. The extraordinary Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho fully embodies this idea: beyond the beauty of her voice, her total commitment to her roles calls to mind Maria Callas and consistently moves audiences to tears. ‘I always sing like it’s the first and last time,’ confides Jaho, whose magnetic interpretations of La Traviata and Suor Angelica at Covent Garden have passed into legend.

This dramatised concert, specially created for Ermonela Jaho, explores the voice’s ability to touch hearts. Arias and scenes from Italian operas by Puccini and his contemporaries are interspersed with Debussy’s Six Épigraphes antiques arranged for orchestra. Together the pieces create a single tale in which the soprano gives herself over fully to the pains and ecstasies of her characters, drawing the audience into the emotional fire that keeps her artistic soul alight.

With the support of Crédit Agricole Nord de France, Grand patron of the season, and the Club lyrique régional Nord Pas-de-Calais.