Sung from memory and with no conductor, seven singers and a rich continuo group will work with stage director Thomas Guthrie to create an engaging, sensual performance of these virtuoso pieces that explore all facets of love, from passion through rejection to final retirement.

The Venetian Barbara Strozzi (1619-77) was a singer, pupil of Cavalli, and one of the most successful composers of her period. Her first volume of madrigals dates from 1644 and sets texts by the poet and librettist Giulio Strozzi, who was probably her father; its second item is aptly entitled Canto di bella bocca ("songs from a beautiful mouth").