A new production of Dvořák's opera featuring Natalya Romaniw comes to the International Festival, with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Douglas Boyd and Garsington Opera.

5 Stars
The cast would be hard to better... Boyd’s interpretation works on every level
George Hall, The Stage

Please note: unfortunately, Natalya Romaniw has had to withdraw from the Tuesday 9 August performance due to illness. We are very grateful to Elin Pritchard, who has agreed to step in to perform the role of Rusalka.

A new production of Dvořák’s best-loved opera, the dark fairy tale Rusalka, features Welsh soprano Natalya Romaniw in the title role. One of the 2022 International Festival’s orchestras in residence, the Philharmonia Orchestra is conducted by Douglas Boyd, Artistic Director of the internationally acclaimed Garsington Opera.

Rusalka is the haunting fable of a water sprite who sacrifices everything when she falls in love with a human prince.

She enlists the help of a witch, entering the mortal world and giving up her voice to be with him – only to discover the true cost of love is greater still. Inspired by sources including Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, Dvořák’s sensual opera shimmers with glinting orchestral colours. Sound and silence reverberate against each other as soaring romantic melodies sweep through the eerie quiet. Reality and the supernatural collide in luscious evocations of the natural world.

Natalya Romaniw is a sensational talent, awarded both Young Artist of the Year at the Gramophone Classical Music Awards 2020 and Singer of the Year at the Royal Philharmonic Society 2020 Awards. Glasgow-born conductor and former oboe virtuoso Douglas Boyd collaborates with director Jack Furness, Artistic Director of Shadwell Opera, who brings a rich theatrical flair to the narrative. Designer Tom Piper is most famous for his Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red installation of poppies at the Tower of London. Together, they craft a transporting fantasy with grave human intensity at its core.

Performed in Czech with English supertitles

Image gallery

A gallery carousel of 9 items

A man and woman stand above a raised disk smiling, with women dressed as water nymphs stood below the disk looking fierce. — Rusalka
© 2022 Credit : Clive Barda

A man and a woman stand on stage under a large suspended disk with watery projections behind them. — Rusalka
© 2022 Credit : Clive Barda

A man stands singing through a hole in the stage with his fists clenched and his eyes shut. — Rusalka
© 2022 Credit : Julian Guidera

Singers in folk-style costume are on stage, splashing in a large pool of water, with two acrobats swinging in front. — Rusalka
© 2022 Credit : Clive Barda

People in extravagant ball dress stand and dance on a raised circular platform on stage — Rusalka
© 2022 Credit : Clive Barda

Three women in water nymph costumes crouch at the front of a stage, with watery shadows behind them and a man in the background singing — Rusalka
© 2022 Credit : Julian Guidera

A woman in a folk-style water nymph costume sings whilst cradled mid-air by an aerial rope — Rusalka
© 2022 Credit : Luca Migliore

A woman in a white dress is suspended from above through a hole in the roof, leaning back and extending her arm. — Rusalka
© 2022 Credit : Luca Migliore

A tower of aerialists are all balanced along a rope, with a man in a jacquard metallic jacket stood singing on the right-hand side — Rusalka
© 2022 Credit : Luca Migliore

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Photo: Rusalka