Artiste: Alan Fairs

John Joubert's opera setting of Charlotte Brontë's masterpiece received its long-awaited world premiere by the English Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Kenneth Woods, with a luminous central performance by soprano April Fredrick.

The Barber of Seville and Eugene Onegin, the two operas being toured by English Touring Opera this season, share two things: they are both highly melodic stalwarts of the repertoire, and their plots both revolve around the writing of love letters.