Katherine Jenkins to sing at next year's Llangollen Eisteddfod

Tickets go on sale on Monday for the 2016 concert as festival organisers hope to reverse losses the event is expected to make this year.

It was revealed earlier this week that the eisteddfod could lose as much as £70,000 this year.

Katherine, who is expecting her first child in the autumn, will star in a concert version of Georges Bizet's opera Carmen, the tale of the downfall of Don José, a naïve soldier seduced by the fiery gipsy. She said: "I'm really excited as it's always been a dream of mine to perform Carmen. I studied it at the Royal Academy of Music before I graduated. It's special as it was written for a mezzo soprano."

"I do usually include several operatic arias in my concerts but I have never condensed and performed all the arias from a single opera into one concert.

The 34-year-old is now planning on taking a break until the New Year as she and husband Andrew Levitas look forward to the birth of their first child. She said: "I have always said I want to enjoy being a mum so I'm taking some time away from music which I think is important. But I will be back next year and 2016 is already looking like it's going to be absolutely amazing and very exciting."

"As well as Llangollen I'm the first artist to have been confirmed as performing at Her Majesty the Queen's 90th birthday celebration concert in May.

"And to follow that up in July with, what will be my third appearance at Llangollen, means 2016 is already lining up to be an incredible year."

One of the most successful classical cross-over singers, Jenkins has sold millions of albums, sang for royalty, the Pope and performed the Welsh national anthem, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, before Welsh international rugby matches.

"I always look forward to Llangollen it's always a pleasure visiting North Wales and it's lovely being invited to go back.

"I think the Llangollen audiences make the event so different and it really is a unique and very special event. The audiences are always warm, knowledgeable and just so welcoming."

"It is a small and very beautiful, North Wales town so it's incredible that some of the biggest names in music, from all genres, are eager to perform there."

The festival's musical director, Eilir Owen Griffiths, is thrilled about securing Katherine's Llangollen hat-trick appearance.

He said: "Katherine is incredibly popular. It promises to be an amazing evening and something very different in that she will be performing a concert version of Bizet's Carmen."

To book tickets go to the website at www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk