Berenice vendicativa (D. Freschi) | Teatro Olimpico of Vicenza
2026-04-17 20:30 - 23:00 (Europe/Rome) | Teatro Olimpico of Vicenza, Piazza Matteotti, 11, Vicenza, VI, 36100, Italy
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

Awakening 2026: Flower, Muse of the Arts - Flower Catalogue
2026-05-02 19:00 - 21:45 | Botanical garden of Padua University, Via Orto botanico, 15, Padua, PD, 35123, Italy
SATURDAY, MAY 2 – 7 and 8:30 p.m. (duration 75 minutes)
Storytelling between music, cinema and botany
with Marco Angius, Mariacristina Villani, Luca Di Lorenzo
with Voice Emma Alessi Innocenti
and musicians from the Orchestra of Padua and Veneto
Activities included in the admission ticket | By reservation only
Please note that the ticket includes a visit to the Botanical Garden on the day of the event, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
In a sensory journey between arts and science, Darius Milhaud’s Catalogue de fleurs (1920) becomes the subtle plot that unites three gazes: the musical one of Marco Angius, the cinematic one of Luca Di Lorenzo and the botanical-narrative one of Mariacristina Villani. Flower after flower, short live performances intertwine with images, stories and film fragments, building a path in which music, cinema and botany continuously dialogue. The flower thus emerges as form, symbol and rhythm, crossing different languages and opening connections between scientific observation and imagination.
From the scent of violets to the geometries of fritillaries, from the purity of lilies to the passion of roses, each species reveals a real, poetic and visual world. In closing, the full performance of the piece restores the unity of listening, letting the interweaving of the arts and the audience’s gaze emerge.
The event is held at the University of Padua Botanical Garden in the Botanical Theater.
Online reservations available beginning Friday, April 17.

Apollo and Dionysus: the duel of creation | Baroque concert
2026-06-06 11:00 - 12:30 | Chiesa del Suffragio, Corso della Repubblica, 5-1, Forlì, FC, 47121, Italy
The concert Apollo and Dionysus: the duel of creation was born on the occasion of the exhibition Baroque. the Great Theatre of the Ideas , which will be held at the Museo Civico San Domenico in Forlì from Feb. 21 to June 28, 2026.
This musical project, supported by the Fondazione Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì, features the baroque ensemble Delirium Amoris in collaboration with mezzo-soprano Emma Alessi Innocenti. The concert will explore the relationship between order and chaos, form and passion, and will feature performances of several pages from the Italian Baroque:
Francesco Maria Veracini (1690–1768)
Sonata VIII in mi minore
for violin and continuo, from Opus 2 (1744)
Andante · Allegro · Siciliana · Allegro assai
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725)
Notte, ch’in carro d’ombre
Cantata for soprano and continuo
Giovanni Battista Cirri (1724–1808)
Pasticcio Sonata
for cello, violin and continuo
Adagio · Allegro · Minuetto
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736)
Orfeo
Cantata for soprano and continuo
«Orfeo — che farò senza Euridice»

The concert will take place Saturday, June 6 (11 a.m.) in the beautiful Baroque setting of the Suffrage Church (or Church of St. Mary of the Visitation) in Forli.
Free admission subject to availability.

The ancient on stage: Händel's Giulio Cesare (Teatro del Maggio)
2026-06-10 16:30 - 18:00 | Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Piazza Vittorio Gui, 1, Florence, FI, 50144, Italy
On the occasion of Georg Friedrich Händel’s Giulio Cesare, a conference presenting the opera will be held at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, entitled The ancient on stage: Giulio Cesare by Händel. The event is part of the Parlando d’opera series organized by the Teatro del Maggio in collaboration with Il Foyer – Amici della Lirica di Firenze.
The lecture will be given by musicologist, pianist and conductor Martino Ruggero Dondi, who will not only introduce the audience to this Baroque masterpiece, but also perform arias from the opera on the piano along with Anna Vigori (soprano, Cleopatra), Emma Alessi Innocenti (mezzo-soprano, Sesto) and Sebastiano Silvestri (contraltist, Giulio Cesare).

Wednesday 10 June, 4.30 pm
Teatro del Maggio – Balcony’s Foyer
Admission is free subject to availability

Una promessa infranta | Teatro Lirico Sperimentale (Spoleto)
2026-08-20 20:30 - 2026-08-23 19:00 | Teatro Caio Melisso, Piazza del Duomo, 4, Spoleto, PG, 06049, Italy
The second event of the 80th Season of the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale is dedicated to contemporary music, with the staging of Una promessa infranta, a chamber opera composed on commission by Federico Gardella, with a libretto by Cecilia Ligorio, who is also the director. Sets and lighting will be by Alberto Favretto and costumes by Clelia De Angelis.
«Una promessa infranta – Gardella explains – is a one-act opera based on the short story of the same name by Lafcadio Hearn (an Irish writer who was born in Greece and lived in Japan), which is inscribed in the very ancient tradition of Japanese ghost stories, the Kwaidan. Love lost and then found (and then lost again), fear, guilt, are the feelings that act on the characters, inextricably intertwining them with each other. The inner world, with its uncanny bearing, represents the place where this story happens and defines the sound with which we try to investigate the depths of the human ».
Mimma Campanale is serving as music director, returning to Spoleto for this new production: «I am very happy to return to Spoleto to conduct another world premiere. The Teatro Lirico Sperimentale has always made the discovery and promotion of new talent its mission, exploring the uncharted territories of new music with sensitivity and courage. Last year, with Nanof, l’altro, we explored the twists and turns of mental illness; this year, sound will become a vehicle for fear and torment in a story where the dark tones of the psychological thriller will be counterpointed by the poetry of ancient Eastern traditions. ».

Singers from the Teatro Lirico Sperimentale
Soloists from the V. Calamani Umbrian Philharmonic Orchestra
New production in its world premiere

Dates and schedules
Thursday, August 20, 8:30 p.m. (preview) | Friday, August 21, 8:30 p.m. |
Sabato 22 agosto, ore 18.00 | Domenica 23 agosto, ore 17.00
Teatro Caio Melisso, Spoleto (PG)
Tickets
Section I (orchestra and orchestra boxes) €25.00*
Section II (box seats) €20.00*
balcony seats €15.00* | reduced** €15.00*
*excluding advance booking fees
** reduced rate: under 30, over 65, affiliated associations and organizations
Tickets can be purchased through Ticket Italia at authorized retailers and on the website at the following link: https://ticketitalia.com/teatro/80-stagione-lirica-sperimentale-2026.
