Rusalka

ABOUT PERFORMANCE

“For your love, for that beauty of yours,

for your inconstant human passion,

for everything by which my fate is cursed,

human soul, God have mercy on you!“

The world's most famous Czech opera, the masterpiece of Antonin Dvorak, has been enchanting audiences since its world premiere in 1901. The composer had a brilliant poetic libretto by Jaroslav Kvapil, inspired by Andersen's Little Mermaid, and Ballads by Karel Jaromir Erben with clear elements of symbolism and decadence in the late 19th century. The opera tells the fairy tale story of the water nymph Rusalka, who leaves the safety of her lake home and becomes a human for the love of the Prince. The emotionally unstable Prince betrays her for his momentary enchantment by another woman and she is then rejected by the human world. Betrayed Rusalka becomes a deadly element – a firefly – and among others even the Prince dies in her arms. The composer tells the story in a colourful and melodic way, the music is filled with passion; it is a expressive image of nature and emotions. Dvorak’s opera ends in a breath-taking catharsis – Rusalka forgives the Prince who is dying in her arms. The composer thus created one of the strongest and incomprehensibly purifying, elusive and beautiful musical endings in both Czech and international opera.

Performed in the Czech original with Czech and English subtitles.

CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM

Rusalka – Veronika Rovná, Kateřina Kněžíková, Alžběta Poláčková
Water Goblin – Martin Gurbaľ, František Zahradníček
Prince – Luciano Mastro, Martin Šrejma
Witch – Václava Krejčí Housková, Kateřina Jalovcová, Šárka Hrbáčková
Foreign Princess – Kateřina Hebelková, Lívia Obručník Vénosová, Eliška Gattringerová
First Wood Sprite – Veronika Kaiserová, Karolína Levková, Lenka Pavlovič
Second Wood Sprite – Klára Hlúšková, Magdaléna Rovenská
Third Wood Sprite – Barbora Garzinová, Anna Nitrová
and others

Musical preparation: Jakub Klecker
Conductors: Jakub Klecker, Adam Sedlický, Marek Šedivý, David Švec
Stage direction: Radovan Lipus
Set design: David Bazika
Costumes: Ha Thanh Špetlíková
Choreography: Jana Hanušová
Dramaturgy: Eva Františáková