OPERA and Ballet International will present Ellen Kent’s production of Verdi’s La Traviata at the Grand Opera House, York, on March 20 with a cast led by international soprano Maria Tonina.

What’s On has teamed up with the Grand Opera House and Opera and Ballet International for a competition with a set of three prizes for one winner. Those prizes are a pair of tickets for the 7.30pm performance and a programme; a two-course meal for two with a pre-dinner drink at Middletons Hotel, Skeldergate, York, on any Sunday to Thursday; and a copy of Alexandre Dumas fils’ La Dame aux Camelias, published by Oxford University Press, in a new translation by David Coward.

Verdi’s operatic version of La Dame aux Camelias tells the romantic tale of the love and life of the courtesan, Violetta. Based on a true story, it recounts the doomed love of the passionate, consumptive Violetta and the aristocratic Alfredo.

Dumas had made no secret of the fact that his book and play were based on his affair with Marie Duplessis, who died in 1847 of tuberculosis at the age of 23. Ellen Kent was fascinated by the book, which she read while rehearsing La Traviata in the Ukraine in 2011.

“I’ve added 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 died and her effects are being sold off to pay her debts,” says Ellen.

Analysing the theme of La Traviata, she continues: “The clarity of the plot seems matched by a single moral idea that enduring love can and does survive despite all efforts to corrupt it.”

In Ellen’s touring production, Maria Tonina will be starring as Violetta. Starring opposite her will be Ruslan Zinevych, the Ukrainian tenor. Winner of many international awards, Zinevych has performed regularly for Ellen over the past few years.

On the tour, performances are divided between Zinevych and Spanish tenor Giorgio Meladze, who is making his debut in an Ellen Kent production in the role of Alfredo.

Ellen has had many adventures over the past 22 years producing operas from Eastern Europe, working with presidents and national opera houses.

Last year brought challenges anew when Ellen set out to work on a tour with The Ukraine National Opera in Kharkiv and found herself only six miles from a very bloody civil war. “Here we go again, I thought,” she says. “But as I previously said in 2005, ‘the show must go on’ and I was still prepared to travel and rehearse in Kharkiv. However, I was persuaded by the British Foreign Office not to travel due to fatalities and kidnappings, not to mention bombings in the area.”

Nevertheless, with the support of the Kharkiv Opera, Ellen managed to transport the complete sets, props and costumes for three productions, despite being close to the bombing and then insurgents robbing transport on the Ukrainian roads.

“I moved the entire operation to the safe haven of the National Opera of Moldova, where I’ve worked for over 18 years,” she says. “Ion Grosu, the director, offered me the entire support of the opera house to enable me to complete the project.

“The company on tour includes Ukrainians, Moldovans and Russians, all working together in perfect harmony, so it seems my powers of diplomacy have succeeded where many heads of state have failed in recent days.”

Ellen’s production of La Traviata will be sung in Italian with English surtitles. Tickets cost £15 to £39.50 on 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york

Competition question: Who has written the new translation of La Dame aux Camelias?

Send your answer, with your name, address and daytime phone number by email to: charles.hutchinson@nqyne.co.uk, by next Friday (February 20). Usual competition rules apply.