The Audience at the Theatre Royal had an added bonus.

La Traviata was billed to be sung in English but was suddenly switched to the Italian, following a replacement baritone who only knew the role in the original language.

The announcement was greeted with cheers and applause and I understand only six people from the packed house walked out.

This production of Verdi's most popular opera was staged by the European Chamber Opera Company, a company which serves as a nursery for up-and-coming singers across the Continent.

And in Melinda Hughes' Violetta, the fallen woman of the title, it has discovered a beautiful new star. Melinda played the consumptive courtesan to perfection. She was slender and vulnerable, sang like an angel with lots of vibrato and acted her socks off as she spurned her rich lover to flee with Alfredo to her country house where she hoped to live and love for ever.

John Morgan's Germont Pere was a superb baritone, capable of rich colouring and Neil Allen's Alfredo was another real find for the company.

With sinful but beautifully evocative sets and costumes summoning up France's Second Empire period, this La Traviata was one to tear the soul. If anyone is saving fallen women this week, please save this one for me.

Mike Howard
Theatre Royal, New Road, Brighton, Monday