STEVE JOHNSON relishes a celebration of the commonality of folk music and its links with the struggles of working people the world over

La Traviata
Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay
IT IS five years since the Welsh National Opera has performed Verdi’s La Traviata and it has dusted down the Italian maestro’s perennial favourite but with an ending that fails to bring the usual tears.
Stacey Alleaume is a feisty Violetta and has a ravishing voice to go with her acting skills. But it is David Junghoon Kim who is an uncertain Alfredo, despite his fabulous singing.
Both Alleaume and Kim will no doubt have stellar careers in the opera world, but in an opera where the two lead characters fall madly in love they both fail to convey that chemistry.