Dvořák
Rusalka
Sydney Opera House19 July–11 August 2025
Dvořák
Rusalka
Sydney Opera House19 July–11 August 2025
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See All EventsVenue
Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House
Bennelong Point, Sydney
Language
Performed in Czech with English surtitles.
Running time
Approximately 3 hours and 5 minutes, including two intervals.
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Production Partner
This production of Rusalka is by the Opera Conference, Australia’s national partnership of professional opera companies.
Strange magic ripples under the water.
And stranger magic in her heart.
Under the surface, Rusalka wants. She wants light. She wants love. She wants life outside of her home in the depths. The water nymph gives up everything to get it. But Rusalka can’t imagine just how much she’s giving up … or if the soul she seeks is worth the sacrifice.
Nicole Car has a once-in-a-generation voice, and is one of the most successful sopranos to emerge from Australia in decades. Don’t miss her return after several years on the world stage to make her role debut as Rusalka.
Dvořák’s rich, Romantic opera draws you into a dream-like world of light and shadow. The music shimmers with intricate harmonies and sweeping melodies, including the famous ‘Song to the Moon’. The lush orchestration paints a vivid atmosphere where magic and malice meet.
Before Disney took Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid into the lives of children everywhere, many cultures told tales of water nymphs who long to live on the surface. Dvořák’s opera fuses the fairy tale with Slavic stories of dangerous water nymphs.
Director Sarah Giles follows up her critically acclaimed La Traviata with a new production of Dvořák’s melodic opera. She creates a mesmerising, dangerous world, where Rusalka longs to escape from a place that doesn’t feel like home. Ethereal costumes by Renée Mulder and an evocative set by Charles Davis glimmer with magic and mystery.
The cast is rounded out by Austrian-Australian tenor Gerard Schneider, Warwick Fyfe, Ashlyn Tymms, and Natalie Aroyan.
Cheat Sheet: Rusalka
A cheat's guide to Dvořák’s fairy tale opera of love and loss.
What happens in the story? Who was the composer? What should I expect from the music? Here’s everything you need to know…
Enjoy dinner before the opera
Overture Dining at Sydney Opera House
Allow us to make your dinner reservation for you: at Overture Dining in the Northern Foyer of the Joan Sutherland Theatre. You’ll be served a three-course menu from just $97.
Production Partner
This production of Rusalka is by the Opera Conference, Australia’s national partnership of professional opera companies.