Bellini's Adelson e Salvini, Barbican Hall

Opera Rara performs Bellini's early opera, set in Ireland, which is now all but forgotten, despite showing many of the hallmarks of his later triumphs

Italian mezzo-soprano Daniela Barcellona plays Nelly in Adelson e Salvini. Photograph: Studio Amati Bacciardi
Bellini is best known for his stirring opera Norma, but this earlier opera, Adelson e Salvini, was such a hit at its first performance in 1825, when the composer was still studying in Naples, that was it was repeated every Sunday for a year. Opera Rara, the company that unearths unjustly forgotten works such as this, often to great acclaim, give a single performance of Adelson e Salvini, but is also recording it. The story is based on the novellas of Baculard d’Arnaud, Les Épreuves du sentiment, but its inspiration was not only literary: Bellini is thought to have put everything into his composition in order to impress the parents of a singer with whom he had fallen in love. Adelson e Salvini depicts a classic love triangle: Salvini is an Italian painter who, visiting his patron Lord Adelson, falls in love with his benefactor's fiancée, Nelly. Italian mezzo-soprano Daniela Barcellona sings Nelly, with Sicilian-born tenor Enea Scala as Salvini, Bologna-born baritone Simone Alberghini as Lord Adelson, and the rising British mezzo-soprano Kathryn Rudge as Fanny. Soloists, choir and the BBC Symphony Orchestra are conducted by Daniele Rustioni
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What Bellini's Adelson e Salvini, Barbican Hall
Where Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London, EC2Y 8DS | MAP
Nearest tube Barbican (underground)
When On 11 May 16, 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Price £12 - £40
Website http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=17510