On June 12, 2019, a performance of Roberto Scarcella Perino’s Furiosus, a two-act opera based on Ludovico Ariosto’s chivalric epic Orlando Furioso, one of the major works in the history of Italian literature dating back to 1516, was staged in the Continuum Theatre at New York University’s picturesque Villa La Pietra in Florence.

The orchestra is conducted by Giuseppe Bruno and the members of the youth chorus are students at the Fiesole School of Music, while the actors embodying mystical creatures, sorcerers, fairies, and fantastic beasts are members of NYU’s Commedia dell’Arte course. In this video, the director of NYU’s Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo and of the Summer Program at Villa La Pietra, Stefano Albertini, interviews composer Roberto Scarcella Perino, director and author of the show’s libretto, Flora Gagliardi, and co-director of NYU Florence, Larry Wolff.