Rusalka

The water nymph Rusalka trades her natural existence for a life on earth. The price she pays for this is high and she loses her voice. After being rejected by her beloved prince and because she cannot possibly return to her former life, a tragic fate awaits her.

Dvořák’s lyrical score is permeated with a late-romantic heroism with Wagnerian influences. The composer nevertheless developed a unique sound through the use of Czech folk melodies. He gives musical form to both the natural world and the human world by way of various dance rhythms. This inspired the Norwegian director and choreographer Alan Lucien Øyen to give dance a central role in his production.

Øyen’s work guarantees fascinating dance theatre, as recently revealed by the acclaimed Bon Voyage, Bob, which he created for the legendary Tanztheater Wuppertal. His melancholic and poetic images always go hand in hand with a confronting sense of reality. In this opera he evokes an abstract and visually overwhelming universe in which the existential and tragic story of Rusalka finds its counterpart in compassion and reconciliation.