Opera
Olympia
, , May 2026
The opera
- Composer
- Nicola Campogrande
Conductor and director
-
Conductor Riccardo Frizza
-
Director Tommaso Franchin
Characters and cast
-
Olympia Isidora Moles
-
Jean Paul Dupont Francesco Castoro
-
Prof.ssa Sherry Hope Silvia Beltrami
-
Baritone
Ing. Lamberto Spallanzani
Stefan Astakhov
-
Zoltan Eugenio Di Lieto
-
Olympia Isidora Moles
-
Jean Paul Dupont Francesco Castoro
-
Prof.ssa Sherry Hope Silvia Beltrami
-
Baritone
Ing. Lamberto Spallanzani
Stefan Astakhov
-
Zoltan Eugenio Di Lieto
-
Olympia Isidora Moles
-
Jean Paul Dupont Francesco Castoro
-
Prof.ssa Sherry Hope Silvia Beltrami
-
Baritone
Ing. Lamberto Spallanzani
Stefan Astakhov
-
Zoltan Eugenio Di Lieto
Orchestra and chorus
-
Orchestra
Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna
-
Chorus
Coro del Teatro Comunale di Bologna
-
Chorus master Giovanni Farina
Creative team
- Sets
- Fabio Carpene
- Costumes
- Giovanna Fiorentini
- Lighting
- Manuel Garzetta
Dates and tickets
Dates and performances
-
Opening nightAt 20:00
-
Slot BAt 16:00
-
Slot AAt 20:00
Running time
Total 120 min. approx.
Venue
Comunale Nouveau
Details
- Production
- New commission of Teatro Comunale di Bologna
- Information
-
Certainly, «Olympia» remains in many ways a comic opera, ironic and full of brio; but the drama we witness in the second act, the unexpected awakening of the «gynoid», as the libretto calls her, is terribly dramatic. Because on that machine, emphatically female, a man exercises an unbearable violence; and Olympia resists him, rebels, escapes, and so sets off an unpredictable finale.
In the background, far off, there is a faint echo of some of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s tales, which served as the pretext for starting a completely new story. But behind the plot of this opera one can also glimpse Asimov’s sentient robots and all their science-fiction relatives, who become the protagonists of a reflection on free will: what does a machine really want? What are its desires? And can a gynoid possess a conscience?
So text and music, lightly, lead us to think about the relationship between nature and culture, between the natural and the artificial; and they let us give vent to the many emotions that surround our relationship with artificial intelligence at this moment, between excitement and dread.
Musical director and conductor
Riccardo Frizza
Director
Tommaso Franchin
New commission of Teatro Comunale di Bologna
Orchestra, Chorus and technical staff of Teatro Comunale di Bologna
Chorus Master Giovanni Farina
Characters and cast
OLYMPIA
Isidora MolesASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Luisa Bertoli
Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Comunale di Bologna
15 May | 20:00 – PREMIÈRE
17 May | 16:00 – SUNDAY
19 May | 20:00 – EVENING
Act 1: 45min.
Interval: 25 min.
Act 2: 50min.
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