Michael Nyman - piano
Marie Angel - soprano

I sonetti lussuriosi is a set of graphic erotic texts by the Renaissance poet and iconoclast Pietro Aretino, intended to accompany a series of explicit engravings. Michael Nyman, perhaps best known for his score of the 1993 film The Piano, has set "the lustful sonnets" to music and accompanies Marie Angel, the Australian-born soprano. They are performing a one-off benefit concert in aid of The Drill Hall on Sunday 6 April 2008.

When Michael and Marie performed at the Barbican, the programme was an "adult" affair and had to be kept under-the-counter. BBC producers forced Marie to hum rather than sing her contribution when she and Michael performed sonnet number six live on Radio 3 in December, as they feared the reaction to the Italian text which is littered with explicit references.

Marie last appeared at The Drill Hall in Till the Fat Lady Sings in November 2006, a show which paid tribute to the eclectic collection of songs that has accompanied her on her journey from the Australian Outback to many of the world's finest opera houses.