L’Olimpiade, Linbury Theatre: Forget Paris – Vivaldi’s Olympic drama has more propulsive energy than any Games
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Cheating at the Olympics is not the most inspiring subject for an opera to be performed just before our Paris games this July. In the poet Metastasio’s popular libretto set by Vivaldi (and many other composers), the winner of the ancient games will marry the king’s daughter Aristea. But Licida, in love with her, is no athlete, so his friend Megacle impersonates him and deceitfully wins the games for him. Unfortunately, Megacle too has designs on Aristea, and so the plot thickens – or more accurately congeals to the point of multiple confusions, conflicts, and potential assassinations, before resolving happily.
Vivaldi’s extrovert version of this story was written in 1734 for the Venice Carnival, and we can imagine subtleties of impostor syndrome and unrequited love vanishing in the unbuttoned turbulence of those celebrations. What keeps this piece going is its constant energy and drive, and that was captured to the full here by the small, taut forces of the Irish Baroque Orchestra, driven with crackling propulsion from the harpsichord by Peter Whelan. The arias are mainly short and sharp; surprisingly few are slow. There is just one outstanding duet. The recitatives are where the drama actually happens, and they are vividly sculpted as the characters unpack their turbulent emotions, well supported by cello (Sarah McMahon) and lute (Pablo Fitzgerald).
Vivaldi has come late into our generation’s sudden passion for baroque opera. You might prefer the deeper eloquence of Handel, or the exquisite sensuality of Rameau, but there is no denying Vivaldi’s sheer effectiveness. Irish National Opera made a big impact with its award-winning staging of Vivaldi’s Bajazet in 2022, and had here assembled a talented and stylistically coherent cast, led by Rachel Redmond as Aminta, whose voice has blossomed and triumphed in one of the few really virtuosic arias.
Sadly Gemma Ní Bhriain as Megacle could not sing, but acted the part while Maria Schellenberg nobly sang the part, impeccably, from the pit. There was finely shaped singing from Alexandra Urquiola as Aristea and Sarah Richmond as Argene; the male roles were taken strongly by Chuma Sijeqa as the king Clistene, not always totally focused, Séan Boylan as Alcandro, and with outstanding clarity by counter-tenor Meili Li as the poor Licida – who turns out, in the final operatic twist, to be the long-lost son of the king.
To mount this enjoyable if over-long farrago, Daisy Evans created an admirably unfussy production which looked extremely handsome in Molly O’Cathain’s unextravagant circular set and cross-century costumes – those classy baroque suits should come in handy for a multitude of 18th-century operas. And though the Olympics themselves barely featured, except in a wittily mimed sinfonia that was added to the score, they gave an apt topicality to a revival that does much to advance the cause of both Vivaldi’s music-dramas (there are plenty more to revive) and the stylish skills of Irish National Opera.
To May 25. Linbury Theatre roh.org.uk
