The arias of La traviata are instantly recognisable. Yet at its London premiere in 1856, it was denounced for bringing 'the poetry of the brothel' to the stage and unleashing uncomfortable truths on Victorian society.

Glyndebourne's wartime history as a home for evacuee children is the ingenious context for a new production of this unclassifiable entertainment in which low comedy and high tragedy compete for our attention, "borne aloft by Strauss's divine music and Hofmannsthal's visionary poetry". At the centre of this production from Katharina Thoma is the noble, tragic figure of the abandoned Ariadne herself, in a haunting performance from Soile Isokoski, 'with brilliant support from the pit' (The Independent).