ITALIAN conductor Gianluca Marciano is to return to Hampshire’s Grange Park for a production of Verdi’s La traviata.

Returning to the Park, near Alresford, for the fourth consecutive year, Marciano conducts La traviata on selected dates from May 31 to July 5, followed by Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades from July 6-12.

He reunites with leading British soprano Claire Rutter who takes the role of Verdi’s tragic heroine Violetta in La traviata, in a sumptuous production directed by Lindsay Posner with designs from Richard Hudson.

Marciano conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra in nine performances of La traviata, with a cast that includes Damiano Salerno, Marco Panuccio and Olivia Ray.

This is followed by a revival of Anthony McDonald’s production of Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades, directed by Peter Relton, with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Carl Tanner as Herman, Giselle Allen as Lisa, and Gocha Abuladze as Tomsky.

Marciano said: “I have had the pleasure of conducting Italian opera at Grange Park since 2010. 

“It started with Puccini’s Tosca with the wonderful soprano Claire Rutter and now our collaborations are an annual fixture every summer.

“It is a great joy for me to conduct Verdi’s opera, and I am thrilled to be following this with Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades.”

Full details are online at grangeparkopera.co.uk or call the box office on 01962 737366.