Adriana Lecouvreur, Royal Opera House

The Romanian-born soprano Angela Gheorghiu is always a big attraction at the Royal Opera House, and in Adriana Lecouvreur she is in her element, playing an operatic diva who is caught up in a web of professional and romantic jealousy.

Her performance in the title role of the opera by Francesco Cilea drew many plaudits when this production was first staged in 2010, not only for her singing, but for her sheer star quality in an opera that oozes glamour.

That glamour is much enhanced by the sumptuous designs of Charles Edwards and Brigitte Reiffenstuel, and the director David McVicar, staging the 1902 opera for the first time at Covent Garden for more than a century, let the piece's natural drama unfold like a gorgeous, exotic rose.

Flowers are not always good news, however: the plot revolves around the delivery of some apparently innocent and kindly meant violets, which are not all they seem.

For this revival Gheorghiu shares the title role with the Armenian soprano Hrachuhi Bassenz. The American tenor Brian Jagde sings Adriana's lover, Maurizio. He made his Covent Garden debut last year as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. Russian mezzo-soprano Ksenia Dudnikova makes her ROH debut as the jealous Princesse de Bouillon, and the role of Adriana's admiring stage manager Michonnet is shared between Alessandro Corbelli, who sang the part in 2010, and the very popular British-based, Canadian-born baritone Gerald Finley.

Adriana Lecouvreur is based on a true story of a great French actress whose death at the age of only 38 was rumoured to have been caused by poison. Although three other composers attempted to turn the story into an opera, it is Cilea's version, which opened in Milan to immediate acclaim, that has endured.

Booking opens on 18 October. Click here for performance dates.