Skip to content
Innsbrucker Festwochen der alten Musik
  • Festival
    Festival
    • News
    • Impressions
    • Artists
    • Accademia Bizantina
    • History
  • Program & Tickets
  • Your visit
    Your visit
    • Ticket information
    • Gift voucher
    • Good to know
    • Venues
    • Arrival
    • Accommodation
    • Accessibility
  • Cesti Competition
    Cesti Competition
    • Cesti Competition
    • Registration
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Jury & Prizes
    • FAQ Cesti
    • Prize winners
  • Press
    Press
    • Publications
    • Press informationen
    • Photos
  • About us
    About us
    • Team
    • Jobs
Online Shop
DE
Olimpiade Tue 08.08.2023 • 18.30
© Kiran West
Opera
Olimpiade
Tickets from € 15 Buy tickets Buy tickets
Date Tue 08.08.2023
Time 18.30
Venue Tiroler Landestheater, Großes Haus
Duration approx. 4 hours (2 intermissions)
Introduction 1 hour before the start of the performance
Further information

Antonio Vivaldi: «L'Olimpiade» RV 725 (Opera in three acts)
Libretto by Pietro Metastasio (in an arrangement by Bartolomeo Vitturi)
First performance: Venice, Teatro Sant'Angelo, February 17, 1734
Edition: Critical edition by Alessandro Borin and Antonia Moccia (Ricordi, Milan)
Performance in Italian with German surtitles

Making the Olympic Games the subject and content of an opera may seem somewhat unusual from today's perspective. However, in 1733, this was not the case, as the career of one of the most frequently set librettos in music history began in Vienna. The plot, which was conceived by the famous Pietro Metastasio as the court poet of Emperor Charles VI, takes the following course: Clistene, King of Sicyon, was elected as the regent of the games and has invited the best athletes of Greece to a sporting competition. The winner is promised a special prize, namely the hand of his daughter, Aristea. Licida, a young man who has come from Crete and is the (supposed) son of the local king, has set his sights on Aristea, forgetting his previous lover, Argene, because of the promised reward. However, Licida has legitimate doubts about his chances of success in the upcoming events, and Megacle, a friend and potential Olympian, stands by his side. He asks him to compete instead of him. Megacle, who feels indebted to Licida (because of a rescue from an earlier life-threatening situation) and is in a secret love affair with Aristea, does not initially suspect his friend's deception and gives him his consent. Meanwhile, Argene, who was banished from her Cretan homeland to avoid an unequal marriage, found refuge in a forest near Elis, the site of the games, where she meets Aristea, who shares her views.

Less than six months after Antonio Caldara's first performance of the Metastasian «L'Olimpiade» in honor of Elisabeth Christine, the wife of Charles VI another very successful composer was heard at the Teatro Sant'Angelo in Venice with his very own version of the opera.. It was Antonio Vivaldi, who wanted to lead a «campaign to recapture the Venetian theaters» with this opera, against various representatives of the so-called «Neapolitan School». The fact that this «campaign» was based on a libretto whose author has always been one of the main representatives of that style and also relies on a vocal virtuosity in the area of the vocal line that is comparatively rare in the work of the «prete rosso» is particularly helpful for Alessandro De Marchi - his interpretations have become flagship productions of the recent performance history of Neapolitan-style opera. Together with an ensemble consisting of selected soloists, led by Raffaele Pe, Bejun Mehta, and Margherita Maria Sala, the maestro presents us with a drama about youth, physical culture, and strong emotions as the opening of his last season at the Innsbrucker Festwochen.

Production

Alessandro De Marchi © Kiran West
Alessandro De Marchi

Musical Direction

Stefano Vizioli

Stage Direction

Emanuele Sinisi

Set

Anna Maria Heinreich

Costumes

Show more Show less

Cast

Bruno de Sà © Warner Classics / Laure Bernard
Bruno de Sá

Soprano

Benedetta Mazzucato © Künstlerin
Benedetta Mazzucato

Alto

Margherita Maria Sala © Nicola Nesi
Margherita Maria Sala

Contralto

Bejun Mehta © Marco Borggreve
Bejun Mehta

Countertenor

Raffaele Pe © Nicola Allegri
Raffaele Pe

Countertenor

Christian Senn © Rita Antonioli
Christian Senn

Baritone

Luigi De Donato © Studio-Harcourt Paris
Luigi De Donato

Bass

Innsbrucker Festwochenorchester
Coro maghini

Chiara Albanese, Irena Bespalovaite, Franco Celio, Francesco Coppo, Maximilliano Danta, Federica Leombruni, Teresa Nesci, Silvia Prot, Karin Selva, Davide Sacco, Svetlana Skvortsova
Choir master: Elena Camoletto

Show more Show less
Zuschauerraum GH
Tiroler Landestheater
Adress

Rennweg 2, 6020 Innsbruck

Read more
Further information
Introduction

To get in the mood for the opera, we offer a free introductory talk. In conversation with Festwochen dramaturge Christian Moritz-Bauer, participants will provide exclusive insights into the opera production. The talk begins one hour before the performance in the foyer of the Tiroler Landestheater.

Accessibility

We will be happy to assist you in choosing the right place and provide you with information regarding travel, parking and the best possible access to our events.

Get in touch with us
Catering

At the operas you can use the catering webshop shop.dasbrahms.at and conveniently order your interval table with drinks and snacks in advance. Orders must be received by 12 noon on the day of the concert at the latest.

To the catering
Discounts

50% for visitors under 30 years
10€ Tickets für unter 18-Jährige
40% für Menschen mit Behinderung von mind. 70 % und deren Begleitperson
(wheelchair seats can only be purchased at the ticket office at Haus der Musik Innsbruck)
20% TT Club-Card
10% Ö1 Club Card / Welcome Card

You are visiting several events of the Innsbruck Festival? Save up to 25% with our package offers!

Read more
Further events
Il Giardino Armonico © Lukasz Rajchert
05.08.2023
Il giardino
Read more
Andrés Gabetta & Mario Stefano Pietrodarchi © Lorenzo Gatto
10.08.2023
Tango Seasons
Read more
Innsbrucker Festwochen der alten Musik
Newsletter registration
Address

Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik
Universitätsstraße 1
6020 Innsbruck

T +43 512 571032
F +43 512 563142
festwochen@altemusik.at

Ticket hotline

+43 512 52074-504

Follow us on
  • Green Event
  • Partners
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Disclaimer
  • Circle of Friends
  • Privacy Policy
bundeskanzleramt_kunst_RGB
logo_landtirol_4c.png
IBK_LOGO
raiffeisen_mit_gk_auf_gelb_4c
IKB_Logo_CMYK_Rot_Schwarz_300dpi
TIWAG
logo_wienerstaedtische_4c