Rusalka

A masterpiece of Romantic lyricism, it tells the story of a water nymph who takes on human nature and pays a cruel price for it. Rusalka falls in love with the prince who often comes to bathe in the lake, and she asks her father, the water spirit, to help her become a human woman. To achieve this, after the famous "Song to the Moon," she seeks the help of a witch, assuming some human conditions, though limited. The prince falls in love with her at first, but her muteness and apparent coldness disappoint him, and he soon turns his affections toward a beautiful and cruel foreign princess. Rusalka must return to her realm—now neither human nor water spirit—and is condemned to lead men to their deaths. The prince, repentant, returns and asks for one final kiss, knowing it will cost him his life, and he dies happily in her arms.

Musically very beautiful, with a certain Wagnerian influence (especially the Ring cycle), it also finely incorporates traditional melodies in its ballads, songs, and dances, and expresses, through the choruses of nymphs and water spirits, an idealized and romanticized view of nature.

Asmik Grigorian and Piotr Beczala will star in the performances of this new production between the Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden, the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, the Teatro Real, and the Palau de les Arts in Valencia. A subtle and psychological proposal by Christof Loy, Rusalka is a metaphor for the difficulties of communication between two worlds. Set in the lobby of a theater, where the protagonist is paralyzed and uses crutches, surrounded by characters living from their memories, she longs to leave and discover other ways of understanding reality.

A concept that provides a strong framework for the interactions between the protagonists of this wonderful story, where hidden desires and the darkest instincts become visible.