Katherine Jenkins, Harrogate International Centre, January 21

THE show must go on for Katherine Jenkins in the wake of her split from fiancé Gethin Jones.

The Welsh stars had begun dating in late 2007, but last month, via a statement on her Twitter page, the mezzo-soprano revealed she had broken up with the former Blue Peter presenter. He made a separate statement on his Twitter account.

Dressed in a jewel-encrusted white gown, Katherine wept on stage after performing the opening song of her first concert since the announcement, telling her Oxford audience last weekend “it’s been tough” as she wiped away tears and had to be comforted by conductor Anthony Inglis.

Katherine is going ahead with playing 27 dates in 22 cities and towns, including a sold-out show at Harrogate International Centre on January 21 and the later addition of York Barbican on February 15, for which there is still a “limited availability” of tickets.

She is performing “up close and personal” on her first theatre tour for three years, during which time she has turned 30, appeared as Abigail Pettigrew in the Christmas 2010 episode of Dr Who and been a judge and mentor on two series of ITV’s Popstar To Operastar.

“I think it’s a really long time ago that I last played York, but it was my idea for this tour that I wanted to go back to the places I used to play at the beginning of my career, because it suits the music on my new album,” says the 31-year-old diva. “It’s a more personal record, whereas the last one [Believe] was a big production that suited the big arenas.”

Daydream, her seventh studio album, draws together songs that Katherine loves from across the classical, traditional, choral, folk, pop and musical theatre spectrum: songs that have inspired her over the course of her musical life.

Among the traditional numbers are the Irish stalwart Carrickfergus, the Scottish song Black Is The Colour (Of My True Love’s Hair) and the Welsh hymn Blaenwern. “I’m drawn to folk music from growing up in Wales and to church music from singing in choirs,” says Katherine, who grew up in Neath, West Glamorgan, and was once the Welsh Choirgirl of the Year.

She settled on her classical singing style through gradual progression.

“I learnt to sing in church from the age of seven to 18, so I’d been training my voice in that choirgirl way, and then when it was suggested I should do more singing training, someone said I should do some classical singing, so I tried out Bach and the Italian song Caro Mio Ben, and I instantly felt at home with that,” says Katherine. “It just feels natural.”

The new album entered the pop charts at number six last autumn, emphasising the broad appeal of Katherine’s set of 13 songs, among them I Dreamed A Dream, the Les Miserables number latterly associated with Susan Boyle’s eye-opening turn on Britain’s Got Talent.

“It’s a song that I sang when I did my very first audition for my first record deal at Universal,” Katherine recalls. “At the end, they threw out a wild card and asked me if I knew any musical theatre and I said, ‘How about I Dreamed A Dream?’ so I busked that.

“I sang it in English at the audition, but after Susan Boyle, I felt I didn’t want to just do the same thing, and as it was composed originally in French, I thought it would be good to do it that way, so we tracked it down through the publishers.

“You get a better understanding of what Boublil and Schonberg intended when they wrote it; it feels like a different song in French; it doesn’t seem as theatrical.”

Recording sessions for the album were divided between Los Angeles and London in the spring. Once more Katherine chose to record with Take That and Westlife producer John Shanks in America, renewing a partnership that brought her a hit single in 2010 with Tell Me I’m Not Dreaming. Likewise, she recorded again with Simon Franglen, whose production credits include Barbra Streisand, Céline Dion and the Oscar-nominated soundtrack to James Cameron’s Avatar.

“I wanted to work with both of them again because I really enjoyed working with them before,” says Katherine. “I’d worked with Simon several times and John was new for the last album and I decided I wanted to do the ‘more pop’ songs with him.

“I did three quarters of the album in Hampstead at Air Studios with Simon and then went over to America in the spring to sing on the American version of Strictly Come Dancing. They call It Dancing With The Stars, and I was on when they had a classical/operatic week and sang Time To Say Goodbye and The Flower Duet. So it was goodbye band, hello orchestra for me.”

She will be accompanied by a full orchestra on her 2012 travels. “I feel lucky to be able to take an orchestra on tour; not everyone can afford to do that but for me it’s a must,” says Katherine, who has enjoyed singing with the National Symphony Orchestra since 2003.

“Playing theatres this year, I’ll still sing the same way but I’ll adjust my repertoire because it’s more personal, and I also want to sing the songs that fans want to hear,” says Katherine.

“My shows are also about having a laugh, a bit of fun, questions from the audience between songs. That’s something I enjoy; it makes each concert different because I don’t know what anyone will ask… so it will be laughter one minute, then a really emotional song the next.”

Katherine attributes being so drawn to emotional music to having lost her father so young. “I was 15 when he died,” she says. “I like to be moved by music, and if I don’t feel moved by something I’m singing, why would anyone else be?”

• Katherine Jenkins plays Harrogate International Centre, January 21, 7.30pm, sold out; York Barbican, February 15, 7.30pm. Box office: 0844 854 2757.