Berenice vendicativa (D. Freschi) | Teatro Olimpico of Vicenza

On Friday, April 17 and Saturday, April 18, 2026, the modern premiere of the opera Berenice vendicativa will be held at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza. This drama in music by Domenico Freschi (Valrovina di Bassano del Grappa, 1634 – Vicenza, 1710) to a libretto by Francesco Maria Piccioli and Giorgio Maria Rapparini is a gem of the great Venetian Baroque all to be discovered: there could be no better opportunity for this opera to shine again with the two special evenings in the world’s oldest indoor theater.

This work inaugurates the three-year project L’Effimero e il Perenne (The Transient and the Eternal), which the Accademia Olimpica intends to dedicate between 2026 and 2028 to the Teatro Olimpico, Domenico Freschi, and the great Vicenza and Veneto culture of the seventeenth century.

Francesco Erle has been entrusted with conducting, while Roberto Cuppone will take care of the stage direction.
Fourteen singers will alternate in the seven roles in the two evenings: mezzo-soprano Emma Alessi Innocenti and soprano Jimin Oh (Berenice); mezzo-sopranos Maria Giuditta Guglielmi and Nina Cuk (Farnace); sopranos Minyoung Park and Alice Fraccari (Celinda); mezzo-sopranos Iryna Shteiner and Chiara Ceccarelli (Osmano); sopranos Claudia Floris and Aoki Onaka (Alceste); sopranos Gloria Ferro and Anna Rigotti (Nicomede); and mezzo-sopranos Luisa Torresan and Bogdana Pechenevska (Creonte). Dancer Roberta Piazza completes the cast.
The instrumental part is entrusted to the ensemble L’Arte dell’Arco, for the occasion composed of Federico Guglielmo (I violin), Alessia Pazzaglia (II violin), Matteo Rozzi (viola), Caterina Colelli (cello), Michele Gallo (violone), Gregorio Carraro (oboe and flutes), Arrigo Pietrobon (oboe, bombard and flutes), Michele Santi (trumpet), Gianluca Geremia (lutes) and Lorenzo Feder (harpsichord).

The production team includes, among others: Mauro Zocchetta, collaboration on direction and set design; Carlo Presotto, video projections; Luciano Padovani, choreography consulting; Davide Gagliani, light designer; and Antonia Munaretti, costume and prop elements. Ceneo’s severed head is made by mascheraro Stefano Perocco of Meduna.
The production of Berenice Vendicativa for the Teatro Olimpico is based on musicological work done by Francesco Erle and Sebastiano Franz on the manuscript preserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, in the Fondo Contarini.

The event is sponsored by the Accademia Olimpica, in partnership with the Vicenza Chamber of Commerce, under the patronage of the Veneto Region and with the sponsorship and support of the Province of Vicenza, the Municipality of Piazzola sul Brenta, the Piazzola Futura Foundation and the Vicenza University Service Center – CSUV.

Prices
° Full ticket: 30 euros
° Reduced ticket: 20 euros (over 60; Olympic Academics; members of the Schola San Rocco Choral Association; Astra Theater subscribers)
° Special under-25 ticket: 10 euros.

Tickets available from Wednesday, April 1 at
° Astra Theater Office in Vicenza contrà Barche, 55 open to the public Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 to 5:45 p.m.; tel 0444323725; info@teatroastra.it
° online at vivaticket.it and teatroastra.it

For information
segreteria@accademiaolimpica.it