Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò at New York University is set to present the North American premiere of “Furiosus.”

The new opera in two acts was inspired by “Orlando Furioso” and will be presented on Feb. 16, 2023 at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center in New York.

The work features music by Roberto Scarcella Perino and a libretto by Flora Gagliardi and takes audiences on a galactic journey from earth to moon, from mythical to human, highlighting the vicissitudes of life, love, sorcery, and seduction.

In a statement Perino said, “My earliest memory of Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso is connected to Sicilian popular culture. As a child, my father took me to see the ‘teatro dei pupi,’ an all-Sicilian theater that tells stories taken from epic-chivalric literature. I was enchanted by the fights between Orlando and Rodomonte, Angelica’s love for Medoro, and Astolfo’s trip to the moon riding the hippogriff. For Flora Gagliardi’s Furiosus I turned into a “puparo” to give life to all the characters by pulling the strings and imitating their voices. I wanted to recreate the magic I experienced as a child by inventing music that tells us about Furiosus and its stories lost in time and space.”