{"id":5911,"date":"2020-03-05T08:53:23","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T08:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=5911"},"modified":"2020-03-05T08:54:12","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T08:54:12","slug":"english-national-opera-stages-new-production-of-dvoraks-best-loved-opera-rusalka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=5911","title":{"rendered":"English National Opera stages new production of Dvor\u00e1k\u2019s best-loved opera Rusalka"},"content":{"rendered":"
Rusalka<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
Anton\u00edn Dvor\u00e1k (1813-1901)<\/span><\/h6>\n
Libretto by Jaroslav Kvapil after Friedrich de la Motte Fouqu\u00e9<\/span><\/h6>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n
Conductor, Antony Hermus<\/span><\/h6>\n
Director, Tatjana G\u00fcrbaca<\/span><\/h6>\n

Opens Saturday 28 March at the London Coliseum (7 performances)<\/em><\/p>\n

Acclaimed German director Tatjana G\u00fcrbaca and designer Klaus Gr\u00fcnberg make their English National Opera (ENO) debuts with ENO\u2019s first new Rusalka<\/em> in two decades, with Corinne Winters in the title role and David Butt Philip as the Prince.<\/p>\n

Dvo?\u00e1k\u2019s Rusalka<\/em> (1901) is a tragic modern-day fairy tale; water nymph Rusalka falls in love with a young prince who visits her lake. Desperate for the opportunity to win his love, she trades her place in her water-world for life in the mortal realm but at a terrible price. Following rejection from the Prince, she is unable to return to her former life and the tale ends in tragedy. Touching upon themes of existentialism and alienation between the two worlds, Rusalka<\/em> is a powerful exploration of a woman who grows beyond her world to seek happiness and find her place, learning the true meaning of love, understanding and forgiveness.<\/p>\n

German opera director Tatjana G\u00fcrbaca directs this new production, making her UK and house debut. Named Director of the Year by Germany\u2019s magazine Opernwelt in 2013, <\/em>Tatjana\u2019s career highlights include Parsifal<\/em> (Vlaamse Opera, 2018), Die Ring Trilogie<\/em> (Theater an der Wien, 2017), Alcina<\/em> (Theater an der Wien, 2018), Jephtha<\/em> (Opera Halle, 2018) and, most recently, Don Giovanni<\/em> (Theater Bremen, 2019-2020). Tatjana comments: \u2018Rusalka<\/em> is one of the most beautiful heart-breaking love-stories and an existentialist drama: love is a dangerous power that alienates her from all orders and tears a hole into the face of social convention. Traveling between two worlds with an overwhelming desire, Rusalka discovers her inner truth and conquers death. Dvo?\u00e1k\u2019s magnificent opera intoxicates with its vibrant Romanticism.\u2019<\/p>\n

Rusalka\u2019s<\/em> librettist Jaroslav Kvapil drew from many sources, including Slavic myth and Northern European folk-tales that inspired Friedrich de la Motte Fouqu\u00e9\u2019s Undine<\/em> (1811) and Hans Christian Andersen\u2019s The Little Mermaid <\/em>(1837). Rusalka<\/em> was Dvo?\u00e1k\u2019s ninth opera and is considered his most successful, displaying the composer\u2019s exceptional gift for melody and orchestration, featuring the beautiful aria \u2018Song to the Moon\u2019<\/p>\n

Making his ENO debut is Dutch conductor Antony Hermus who joins us from Opera North having just conducted The Marriage of Figaro<\/em>, his first piece of work since joining as Opera North\u2019s Principal Guest Conductor. Antony is also Principal Guest Conductor of the North Netherlands Orchestra and Artistic Advisor of the National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

American soprano Corinne Winters makes her role debut as Rusalka, returning to the London Coliseum after her European debut as \u2018the best ENO Violetta in decades\u2019 (The Sunday Times) in La traviata<\/em> in 2013. Corinne, who originally graduated from the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, has performed across Europe, Australia and America since her debut and has been acclaimed by the New York Times as \u2018an outstanding actress, as well as a singer of extraordinary grace and finesse\u2019.<\/p>\n

One of the most outstanding British tenors of his generation, David Butt Philip makes his role debut as the Prince following his Olivier-Award-nominated performance in last season’s\u00a0War Requiem<\/em>. David made his ENO debut as Rodolfo in La boh\u00e8me <\/em>(2014) where he unleashed \u2018a warm, easy-sounding tenor voice with plenty of heft and ping at the top\u2019 (Guardian).<\/p>\n

Olivier Award-nominated Irish mezzo-soprano, Patricia Bardon returns to the role of Je\u017eibaba having performed the role earlier in the season for Glyndebourne, where her \u2018dark mezzo impressed\u2019 (Opera), as well as recently for Berliner Philharmoniker and Op\u00e9ra National du Rhin. She will also continue in the role for Theatres de la Ville de Luxembourg and finally Garsington Opera later this year.<\/p>\n

We are delighted to welcome soprano Claire Rutter back to the London Coliseum as the Foreign Princess. Claire returns following huge success in her previous roles in ENO\u2019s Tosca<\/em> (2011) and Lucrezia Borgia <\/em>(2011) – \u2018To catch a terrific, scalp-tingling Tosca, look no further than Claire Rutter at the Coliseum. Glorious of voice and subtle of acting, she\u2019s worth the price of the ticket alone\u2019 (Metro).<\/p>\n

Returning to the London Coliseum for his first role since La boh\u00e8me<\/em> (2018), David Soar brings his \u2018sonorous bass\u2019 (Independent) to the role of the Water Spirit.<\/p>\n

Six ENO Harewood Artists complete the cast, continuing our commitment to training the talent of the operatic future through the ENO Harewood programme.<\/p>\n

Mezzo-soprano Katie Coventry is the Kitchen Boy, following her recent performance in ENO\u2019s new production of The Mask of Orpheus <\/em>(2019). Baritone Alex Otterburn is the Huntsman, who returns to the London Coliseum following his \u2018razor-edged Moral\u00e8s\u2019 (the Guardian) in Carmen<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The three Wood Nymphs are sung by Soprano Nadine Benjamin, mezzo-soprano Idunnu M\u00fcnch and mezzo-soprano Katie Stevenson. All three return from recent ENO performances, Nadine following her \u2018exquisite\u2019 (the Stage) performance in Luisa Miller <\/em>(2020), Katie having sung Kate Pinkerton in Madam Butterfly <\/em>(2020) while Idunnu returns following her ENO debut in Orpheus in the Underworld <\/em>(2019).<\/p>\n

Completing the cast is tenor John Findon as the Gamekeeper following his recent performance as Remendado in ENO\u2019s Carmen<\/em> (2020).<\/p>\n

Set and lighting design is by Klaus Gr\u00fcnberg, winner of the Design Award at the International Opera Awards 2017, assisted by Associate Set Designer Anne Kuhn. Costume design is by Barbara Drosihn and translation is by Rodney Blumer.<\/p>\n

Rusalka<\/em> opens on Saturday 28 March 19:00 at the London Coliseum for 7 performances: 28 March & 1, 3, 6, 8, 15 April at 19.00. 11 April at 18.00.<\/p>\n

Tickets start from \u00a310 (plus booking fee)*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rusalka Anton\u00edn Dvor\u00e1k (1813-1901) Libretto by Jaroslav Kvapil after Friedrich de la Motte Fouqu\u00e9 \u00a0 Conductor, Antony Hermus Director, Tatjana G\u00fcrbaca Opens Saturday 28 March at the London Coliseum (7 performances) Acclaimed German director Tatjana G\u00fcrbaca and designer Klaus Gr\u00fcnberg … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5911"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5911"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5914,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5911\/revisions\/5914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}