RUSALKA

In 1901, Jaroslav Kvapil wrote a libretto whose dramatic richness is almost alien to the actual plot. In Rusalka, the suggestive power of the text is focused on the evocation of water, the forest, the lullaby of the aquatic whirlpool as a metaphysical explanation of the drama of the nymph in love with a human prince who loses her voice and, in the end, her soul in a poetic struggle to love simply.One of the cornerstones of opera, Rusalka is now arriving at Les Arts after the splendid reception of Jenůfa, another key work of Czech opera. It also marks the debuts in Valencia of Christof Loy, a key figure among today’s stage directors, and of the young German conductor Cornelius Meister, who conducted the last performance of Wagner’s Ring at the Bayreuth Festival. The German director moves the aquatic kingdom of Rusalka to an old and decadent theatre, with the Rusalka as a dancer unhappy with her body who is desperate to escape the protection of her parents and discover the world. In the leading roles, two young voices who are making a name for themselves: the Russian soprano Olesya Golovneva and the tenor Adam Smith. together with the Russian bass Maxim Kuzmin-Karavaev.