ENGLISH Touring Opera makes its annual voyage to York Theatre Royal to present a revival of Jules Massanet's Manon tonight and a new production of Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata tomorrow.

Both 7.30pm performances will be sung in English by a cast and chorus of young singers destined for the country's premier opera houses.

Massanet's Manon is the late-19th century romantic story of an enigmatic heroine, who is tempted away from her intention to take holy orders by the lure of love and pleasure, and then becomes torn between the man she loves and the lifestyle she desires.

The choice role of Manon goes to Kate Ladner, a soprano in her "very-late twenties" from Adelaide, Australia, who has worked in her homeland, New Zealand, Stuttgart and Great Britain and is now making her English Touring Opera debut.

"As a young freelance today, it's necessary to be able to travel around, and it's the ETO who've given me this big opportunity to perform in England," she says.

"Because of the cultural history here, the tradition is to come over and test the water, whereas in Australia a lot of money goes into sport rather than the arts, although there are conservatoires. Opera is highly thought of but by only a few: in fact there are only four professional opera companies and just one of those is full time."

Kate is relishing the chance to play Manon. "This is a role I've been wanting to sing ever since I was a student at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. It's a huge role and one that embraces not only the biggest technical challenges of my career but the challenge of the journey Manon makes," she says. "I've done 24 performances so I've come to know her well."

Kate has the pleasure of performing in Manon alongside her husband, Nicholas Todorovic, a baritone from New Zealand. "He's playing the Conte des Grieux, who's my prospective father-in-law. Sounds a bit incestuous, doesn't it?"

Next January, Kate begins rehearsals for her next role for ETO, Violetta in La Traviata. Tomorrow, Violetta will be sung by Warrington-based Pamela Wilcock in Verdi's story of a high-class courtesan in 1930s Paris who sacrifices, health, happiness and ultimately life for the sake of her lover.

ETO's new production highlights the decadence, vanity and hypocrisy of a society in which Violetta is first celebrated, then condemned.

"I've wanted to do this role for a long time; I'm 30 now and it's the most demanding role I've done," says Pamela. "I love the opera; it's a fantastic role and well suited to my voice, but it's not easy to sing because of its sheer length - and even when you're not singing, you're having costume changes. You need plenty of rest, plenty of water! "

Originally, Pamela had studied piano and flute at Liverpool University, only taking up singing with the encouragement of her tutor, Colin Iveson, and then training at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. "I'd always loved to sing but never took lessons as I didn't think I had the talent to do it professionally." How wrong she was.

For tickets (£9 to £23), ring 01904 623568.

Free pre-performance talks by ETO's artistic team take place each evening from 6.30pm to 7.30pm.