FULL OLIMPIA VENDICATA (Domencio Freschi) San Francisco CA 2023 Leslie Katter, Nicolas A. Garcia, Sara Couden, Deborah Martinez Rosengaus

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.

Giovanni Domenico Freschi (26 March 1634 – 2 July 1710) was an Italian composer and Roman Catholic priest. From the age of 22 until his death he worked as a church musician and composer in Vincenza. He was also active as an opera composer from 1671 to 1685.

Born in Bassano del Grappa, Freschi was appointed the maestro di cappella at the Cathedral of Vicenza on 14 December 1656; just a few years after his ordination. He remained in that post until his death in Vincenza 53 and a half years later. His sacred music compositions were frequently performed at the cathedral and at other major churches in Vincenza during his lifetime.

In addition to his work as a church musician and composer, Freschi also had an active career as an opera composer. Of his 16 known operas, 11 of them premiered at theatres in Venice and 5 of them at the opera house in Villa Contarini, Piazzola sul Brenta. His first opera, Ifide greca (libretto by Nicolò Minato), premiered in Venice in 1671. His second opera, Helena rapita da Paride was performed for the inauguration of the Teatro Sant’Angelo in Venice in 1677. His last opera to premiere, Gl’amori d’Alidaura, was performed in Piazzola sul Brenta in 1685.