Antonio Vivaldi: «Il Giustino» (Opera in 3 Acts)
Libretto: Antonio Maria Lucchini after Nicolò Beregan & Pietro Pariati 
Premiere: Rome, 1724

Performance in Italian with German surtitles

A rise from peasant to emperor: along the way, there’s a wild bear, a kidnapping, a sea monster, action-packed heroines, and devious identity deception – Antonio Vivaldi’s opera «Il Giustino» is full of imaginative twists and turns. The peasant Giustino dreams of an exciting life, ideally one of eternal glory. He soon finds himself at the imperial court, where he rescues nobles from perilous situations and climbs the career ladder.

Fortune is fickle, and not equally distributed: The tyrannical enemy Vitaliano threatens the Byzantine Empire. He will only make peace on the condition that Empress Arianna marries him instead of her lover Anastasio. Vitaliano’s brother Andronico pressures Anastasios' sister Leocasta, who has been granted access to the palace under the guise of the lady-in-waiting Flavia. General Amanzio, seemingly a loyal servant of the Byzantine court, craves power and envies Giustino’s success. What follows is a series of misunderstandings surrounding love and desire, jealousy and betrayal, as well as courage and ambition.

Typical of the opera seria of the time, the libretto is based on historical figures and real events – Emperor Justin I of the Eastern Roman Empire, for example, truly came from a peasant family and had a successful military career before replacing Emperor Anastasius I on the throne. The political plot is richly embellished in baroque fashion with numerous fictional love intrigues.

Vivaldi’s «Il Giustino» was first performed in 1724 at the Teatro Capranica in Rome. As women were not allowed to sing publicly in Vatican City at the time, the composer wrote the opera exclusively for male voices – the high parts were sung by castrati. This casting starkly contrasts with Vivaldi’s long-time work at the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage for girls with a music conservatory, where he primarily worked with female ensembles.

At the Innsbrucker Festwochen 2025, however, «Il Giustino» will be performed by a mixed ensemble. The singers, who successfully participated in the Cesti Competition 2024, will interpret this dramma per musica in a stage direction by Claudia Isabel Martin. Under the musical direction of Stefano Demicheli Maximiliano Danta, Jiayu Jin, Benedetta Zanotto, Justina Vaitkute, Sarah Hayashi, Lucija Varsic, Thoma Jaron-Wutz, and Massimo Frigato will be the cast, which brings the opera to life.