OPERA North's winter season opens in January with a new production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro directed by Jo Davies.

Christopher Alden will revive his intense take on Manuel de Falla's La vida breve in a double bill with a new production of Gianni Schicchi featuring Anne Sophie Duprels as Salud and Christopher Purves as Gianni Schicchi.

Continuing after its highly successful run in the autumn, La traviata will have new cast members Anna Jeruc-Kopec as Violetta and Stephen Gadd as Germont.

The season opens at Leeds Grand Theatre and there are performances at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle in March.

The Marriage of Figaro is one of opera's most tender, funny and heart-warming works. From the famous overture which sets the scene for comic misadventures in an opera aptly subtitled The Follies of a Day, the music expresses all the joy and pain of love, along with the agony and ecstasy of desire.

It will be sung in English by a top international and British cast including baritone Richard Burkhard as Figaro, whose previous roles at Opera North include Sir Despard Murgatroyd in Ruddigore.

Norwegian soprano Silvia Moi sings Susanna, a role she has previously sung in Malmö and Berlin. She appeared as Papagena in Kenneth Branagh’s film version of The Magic Flute.

Young British conductor Alexander Shelley, winner of the 2005 Leeds Conductors Competition, returns to conduct.

Verdi's La Traviata, sung in Italian with English titles, proved an instant hit with audiences in the autumn, with glamorous costumes and stunning sets evoking the decadence and debauchery of Belle Époque Paris.

South Korean tenor Ji-Min Park is Alfredo and acclaimed baritone Stephen Gadd joins the cast as Alfredo's father, Germont.

Conductor Oliver von Dohnányi returns to the company for the first time since its critically acclaimed 2012 production of Norma.

A new production of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi is the light-hearted companion to Manuel de Falla's La vida breve in which director Christopher Alden’s ferocious take offers an unforgettable experience.

The tragedy is about a woman who loves a worthless man, its the atmosphere heightened by the influennce of Andalusian folk song and Spanish dance rhythms. Originally staged as one of the Eight Little Greats season in 2004, this production received extravagant praise.

Puccini’s only outright comedy is based on an episode in Dante’s Inferno. The music delightfully illustrates the greed and absurdity driving the actions of a dying man’s scheming relatives and features one of the composer's best loved arias, O mio babbino caro.

The cast includes has Christopher Purves in the title role. Schicchi’s daughter Lauretta is sung by fast-rising young artist Jennifer France, while Spanish tenor Jesús Álvarez sings Rinuccio and also takes the role of Paco in La vida breve.

The double bill will be recorded live at Leeds Grand Theatre on Wednesday, February 25, for broadcast on BBC Radio 3 at a later date.