Riccardo Frizza returns to the Comunale Nouveau in Bologna, where he has recently led both operatic and symphonic seasons, to conduct the world premiere of Olympia, the new work by Nicola Campogrande (on Friday 15 May, with repeat performances on 17 and 19 May). With stage direction by Tommaso Franchin, Olympia explores the boundaries between human and artificial, between ethics and conscience, delivering a musical reflection that resonates powerfully with the concerns of today.

“Campogrande is internationally recognised and appreciated for the coherent direction his composition has taken, and for the recognisable aesthetics that shy away neither from lyricism nor from legibility and appeal – says Riccardo Frizza. He’s been composing ‘not only’ opera for several years, on a journey inspired by profoundly heartfelt themes and, as befits an Italian composer of Italian operas, is able to count on the insight and knowledge of librettist Pietro Brodato with whom he cooperates closely. Consequently, back in 2022, working in parallel, this duo began work on an opera about artificial intelligence, one season ahead of the launch of Open AI’s first ChatGPT. As with any opera of importance, the libretto draws on a prestigious literary precedent; – continues Frizza – in this case Der Sandmann by E.T.A. Hoffmann. This chilling portent of altered reality, which masterfully worms its way into the most secret recesses of the human psyche, is the tale which provided the fundamental creative inspiration for the second act of Jacques Offenbach’s fantastical opera Les contes d’Hoffmann. Two centuries after the hallucinations of The Sandman, the perspective has changed completely and the doll Olympia is no longer an object but the subject. This artificial creation now raises ethical questions, confronting her bold human “creator” with the consequences of such audacity.

Campogrande’s Olympia is based on a tonal framework with rigorous, intricate harmonic exploration and has another key strength in its meticulous, exuberant orchestration. Campogrande has accomplished something exceptional, achieving optimal balance between the voices which, interwoven with the instruments, including the many percussion instruments, take on fascinating shades, including dashes of jazz and folk music”.

(Photo: Riccardo Frizza © Simone Falcetta)