OLIMPIA VENDICATA
An Opera composed by Domenico Freschi in 1682
Libretto by Aurelio Aureli
October 20-21-22, 2023
ODC Theater, 3153 17th St
Ars Minerva is proud to bring forgotten music back to life, in collaboration with artists in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since its inception, Ars Minerva has presented the modern world premieres of six long-forgotten Venetian operas in San Francisco. This year founder and artistic director Céline Ricci brings to the stage Olimpia Vendicata, an opera composed by Domenico Freschi in 1682 with a libretto by Aurelio Aureli.
THE PLOT
Olimpia Vendicata is Ariadne auf Naxos in a distinctly more 17th-century Italian key. Poor Olimpia, a Princess of Holland, is abandoned on a desert island by her faithless lover, Bireno. Kidnapped by pirates, she is made a slave at the elegant, sensuous court of Hibernia, where it seems everybody is amorous of somebody else. (Remember, this is fiction…). Imagine her surprise when Bireno crops up and begins wooing the Hibernian princess Alinda! With finesse and malice, Olimpia exacts poetic justice.
CREATIVE TEAM / PRODUCTION STAFF
Director: Céline Ricci
Conductor: Matthew Dirst
Score Transcription: Adam Cockerham
Costumes: Marina Polakoff
Projections: Entropy
Lights: Del Medoff
Translation: Joe McClinton
Make up: Daniel Cartagena
Stage Manager: Chase Kupperberg
CAST
Olimpia: Leslie Katter
Bireno: Nina Jones
Oberto: Deborah Rosengaus
Alinda: Aura Veruni
Osmiro: Sara Couden
Araspe: Nicolas Garcia
Niso: Sidney Ragland