Thursday 22 June 2023 | 19:00 |
Dvořák, Antonín (1841-1904) | Rusalka |
Prague National Theatre Opera | ||
Robert Jindra | Conductor | |
Zbyněk Müller | Conductor | |
Jiří Heřman | Director | |
Jaroslav Bönisch | Set Designer | |
Alexandra Grusková | Costume Designer | |
Daniel Tesař | Lighting Designer | |
Beno Blachut Jr | Dramaturgy | |
Kateřina Kněžíková | Soprano | Rusalka |
Alžběta Poláčková | Soprano | Rusalka |
Dana Burešová | Soprano | Rusalka |
Maria Kobielska | Soprano | Rusalka |
Pavel Černoch | Tenor | Prince |
Aleš Briscein | Tenor | Prince |
Peter Berger | Tenor | Prince |
Pavol Breslik | Tenor | Prince |
František Zahradníček | Bass | Vodník, the water goblin |
Jiří Sulženko | Bass | Vodník, the water goblin |
Günther Groissböck | Bass | Vodník, the water goblin |
Jana Kurucová | Mezzo-soprano | Ježibaba, the Witch, Foreign Princess |
Veronika Hajnová | Mezzo-soprano | Ježibaba, the Witch, Foreign Princess |
Kateřina Jalovcová | Mezzo-soprano | Ježibaba, the Witch, Foreign Princess |
Jolana Fogašová | Mezzo-soprano | Ježibaba, the Witch, Foreign Princess |
Doubravka Součková | Soprano | First Wood Sprite |
Yukiko Šrejmová Kinjo | Soprano | First Wood Sprite |
Lucie Hájková | Soprano | Second Wood Sprite |
Irina Rurac | Mezzo-soprano | Second Wood Sprite |
Stanislava Jirků | Mezzo-soprano | Third Wood Sprite |
Václava Krejčí Housková | Mezzo-soprano | Third Wood Sprite |
Arnheiður Eiríksdóttir | Mezzo-soprano | Kitchen Boy |
Lenka Pavlovič | Soprano | Kitchen Boy |
Ivan Kusnjer | Baritone | Gamekeeper, The Hunter |
Jiří Hájek | Baritone | Gamekeeper, The Hunter |
Prague State Opera | ||
Jan Kodet | Choreography | |
Pavel Vaněk | Choirmaster / chorus director |
Antonín Dvořák’s Rusalka is a true gem of Czech opera, one that has won over audiences worldwide. Ardent melodies, both tender and dramatically extreme, the composer’s masterful work with musical motifs and full-blooded orchestration, as well as Jaroslav Kvapil’s fabulous libretto, evoking K. J. Erben’s simple yet immensely forcible ballads, make Rusalka a work of fascinating beauty addressing audiences of all ages.
Rusalka has customarily been deemed a “mere” fairy-tale. To be sure, there is no doubt that the fantastic story and the characters of the wood nymphs, the water goblin and the witch are of a fairy-tale ilk, yet in its fairy-tale scenes Dvořák’s masterpiece bears an enciphered profound message about the fundamental order of forces, elements, energies and passions in the natural, and therefore also human, world.