Orchestration
Characters
Duration
Olympia
The Opera of Tommorow
Professor Spallanzani has given life to his greatest creation: Olympia, a young woman of extraordinary charm and flawless grace. But beneath her beauty lies a startling truth – she is an android, born not of nature but of science. At first celebrated as the dawn of a new age, Olympia soon becomes the center of fascination, desire, and doubt.
Around her, voices collide: a philosopher who questions the ethics of creating a being unaware of its own nature; a business partner who dreams of a technological future shaped by her kind; a disoriented spectator, fatally attracted by the woman; and a choir of scientists representing all of us. But Olympia herself begins to wonder: What does it mean to be human? Can a machine feel, desire, or choose its own destiny?
Her awakening consciousness sets in motion a struggle that blurs the line between invention and life, between power and love. As creator and creation face each other, the opera asks: when intelligence becomes self-aware, who truly holds control?
Rich in arias, duets, and ensembles, the music of Olympia is both generous and spectacular: “We deserve operas that move us,” says Nicola Campogrande, “where the beauty of tradition meets the thrill of the present. That is what I have sought to achieve in giving life to this score.”
Curious how it unfolds musically?
Browse the piano vocal score here.
→ browse
Love. Ambition. Madness.
Are you ready?
Nicola Campogrande was born in Turin, Italy, in 1969. After graduating from the Conservatories of Milan and Paris, he developed a distinctive personal style that combines past and present traditions along a compelling new path. Performing his scores, musicians such as Riccardo Chailly, Gauthier Capuçon, Lilya Zilberstein, Mario Brunello, Roberto Abbado, Stanislav Kochanovsky and Sergej Krylov have praised the freshness and vitality of his music, as well as its ability to deeply move audiences.
An enthusiast of musical theatre, he composed the operas Lego, Opera italiana, #Folon, De bello gallico, La notte di San Nicola and I due usignoli. These works unite the lyrical tradition of Italian opera with elements of the historical avant-garde and atmospheric hints of jazz and rock.
Campogrande’s works have been recorded on more than 35 CDs. His music is regularly performed at prestigious venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and Wigmore Hall in London, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Philharmonie in Paris, the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome and the Rudolfinum in Prague.
He is also a university professor and a highly regarded radio and television host.
In 2023, he was appointed Composer in Residence of Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano and, in 2024, of Teatro Comunale di Bologna.
He lives in Rome with his three children.
