Rusalka - Antonín Dvořák

Rusalka – Antonín Dvořák at the Graz OperaIt is the longing for freedom and the allure of the unknown that lure Rusalka away from her world—with fatal consequences! Star director Vasily Barkhatov tells the story of a girl rebelling against external and internal constraints as a parable about the longing to seek happiness in a foreign world. In Graz, the internationally acclaimed soprano Nadja Mchantaf embarks on this quest. At her side as the warning water spirit: ensemble member Daeho Kim. Rusalka wants to break free! She finds the world in which she lives far too confining. Despite all warnings, she dares to step into the unknown and must pay a high price for it. She loses the ability to make herself understood and cannot gain a foothold in the unfamiliar world. There is no turning back without profound consequences. In this fairy tale, interpreted as a parable, Dvořák uses rich, evocative symphonic sounds to bring the contrasting realms into conflict, and Rusalka’s attempt to unite the two worlds fails.Vasily Barkhatov, who was recently celebrated for his productions of *Norma* at the Theater an der Wien and *Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk* at the season opening of La Scala in Milan, takes up the parable-like character of the story and portrays Rusalka as a young woman who sets out from the hermetically sealed world of an Orthodox monastery into a world that is only seemingly more open and more passionate world—with consequences that are irreversible for her. In Czech with German surtitlesPublic transport: Tram 1, 7 | Stop: Kaiser-Josef Platz/Oper