In Olympic year the festival presents the UK premiere of Vivaldi's opera L'Olimpiade performed by La Serenissima. A love tangle set against the background of the ancient Olympic games, L'Olimpiade sets one of the most frequently used libretti of the 18th century.  Mhairi Lawson, Sally Bruce-Payne, Anne Marie Gibbons and Jonathan Gunthorpe are among the outstanding cast. A second operatic display closes festivities, when Rosemary Joshua and Mhairi Lawson appear as Handel's two 'Rival                                                                        Queens' with the Early Opera Company and Christian Curnyn.