Professor Colin Timms in the Music department is conducting the Barber Opera, Steffani's Orlando Generoso.

Orlando Generoso will receive three performances in the Barber Institute of Fine Arts on Thursday 27 and Saturday 29 September 2012 at 7.00 pm, and Sunday 30 September 2012 at 3.00 pm.

Steffani was a contemporary of Purcell and a model for Handel. Orlando Generoso (1691) is based on material from Ariosto’s epic poem Orlando Furioso (1516), to which it adheres more closely than the ‘Orlando’ operas of Vivaldi (1714, 1727) or Handel (1733).

It is a psychological drama, exploring the ‘madness’ of love and the thin line between reality and illusion. The music is ravishingly beautiful and full of emotional insight. It is astonishing that Steffani’s opera has not been staged for nearly 300 years and that the composer is still so unjustly neglected. Not to be missed!

For tickets call the Box office: 0121 414 7333.