Dvořák
Rusalka
Sydney Opera House19 July–11 August 2025
Dvořák
Rusalka
Sydney Opera House19 July–11 August 2025
Choose a date to see seats and prices
See All Events2025
July
19 Jul 2025
23 Jul 2025
26 Jul 2025
29 Jul 2025
August
01 Aug 2025
05 Aug 2025
09 Aug 2025
11 Aug 2025
Venue
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.
“Breathtakingly beautiful and inventive ★★★★½”
Limelight
Rusalka - West Australian Opera (2024)
Credit: Dylan Alcock - West Beach Studio
Rusalka - West Australian Opera (2024)
Credit: Dylan Alcock - West Beach Studio
Rusalka - West Australian Opera (2024)
Credit: Dylan Alcock - West Beach Studio
Rusalka - West Australian Opera (2024)
Credit: Dylan Alcock - West Beach Studio
Rusalka - West Australian Opera (2024)
Credit: Dylan Alcock - West Beach Studio
Rusalka - West Australian Opera (2024)
Credit: Dylan Alcock - West Beach Studio
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Cast & Creative
Conductor
Director
Set Designer
Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Video Designer and Content Creator
Movement Director and Intimacy Coordinator
Rusalka
The Prince
The Water King
The Duchess
Ježibaba
Opera Australia Orchestra
Opera Australia Chorus
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…
Synopsis
ACT I
Rusalka, an unhappy water spirit, wants to leave her native waters. She has fallen in love with a Prince and she dreams of a life with him in the sunshine. She begs her father, the Water King, to free her from her watery home and to help make her human so she can live on land with him. Her confession devastates her father. He thinks humans are evil and full of sin, but he sees that Rusalka has made up her mind. He advises her to visit the enchantress of the forest, the wise Ježibaba. Rusalka confides in the moon and calls on the moon to help her.
Rusalka visits the wise enchantress of the forest, Ježibaba, who explains that once human, Rusalka will never be able to return to her native waters, and that should she fail to find love with the Prince she will be damned for eternity, trapped between the worlds. Ježibaba explains that it will not be easy to find this love, because no human will be able to hear a word Rusalka says. Rusalka is determined that she can find love despite having no voice. Ježibaba adds that should Rusalka fail to find and keep this love, her Prince will also be damned for eternity. Rusalka agrees and Ježibaba turns her into a human.
The sound of horns heralds the breaking of dawn and the entrance of the Prince. He is in pursuit of a white doe but feels a mysterious attraction when he comes to the lake. Rusalka comes into sight. The Prince is enchanted and doesn’t know if she is human or a fairy tale. Rusalka is elated to meet her Prince and they leave for his palace. By the lake, the water spirits mourn the loss of Rusalka.
ACT II
It is a week later. The palace is preparing a feast to celebrate the engagement of the Prince and Rusalka. Gossip builds among the servants and the guests, who are deeply suspicious of this foreigner Rusalka; they believe the Prince is still in love with an old flame, the Duchess, and that the relationship between the Prince and Rusalka is already falling apart.
The party is in full swing, but the Prince is distracted with Rusalka. The Duchess comes to reprimand the Prince for ignoring his guests. The Prince apologises and returns to the party with the Duchess – sending Rusalka to go get dressed for the party.
The formal ball is a disaster, and Rusalka runs outside, humiliated and devastated. She finds her father, The Water King, waiting for her. She explains that she cannot make it work with the Prince – her father insists she must try to fix it. Rusalka and the Water King hide as the Duchess and the Prince come outside.
The Duchess has doubts about the Prince changing his affections so quickly. The Prince tries to convince her that he wants to be only with her. Rusalka emerges from her hiding and confronts him. The Water King reveals himself to the humans and reprimands the Prince for betraying Rusalka. The Duchess is horrified to see the terrifying Water King and runs away. The Water King drags Rusalka back beneath the surface. The Prince, never having seen the Water King until now, faints from shock.
ACT III Rusalka is condemned to wander forever as a will-o’-the-wisp. As she longs for death, Ježibaba appears to note that only killing the Prince can redeem Rusalka from her curse. Rusalka refuses. Her sisters call to her from beneath the water, and Rusalka is left to accept her fate.
The wood sprites gather by the lake to sing and dance until The Water King appears, who begs them to stop and reminds them of Rusalka’s woes. The Prince, now crazed with remorse, staggers out of the forest thinking only of Rusalka. He calls on her to return. As Rusalka speaks to him for the first time from above the lake, he begs her forgiveness and for her to take his life. Rusalka warns him that if they touch, he will die. Accepting his destiny, the Prince asks for peace and dies as they embrace.
Rusalka’s final act of killing the Prince releases her from her eternal curse and she is freed to begin her new life.
Production Partner
This production of Rusalka is by the Opera Conference, Australia’s national partnership of professional opera companies.