MUSICAL DIRECTION Nicholas Carter
EQUIPMENTJulia Rösler
DRAMATURGYMarkus Hänse
LIGHTHelmut Stultschnig
CHOIRGünter Wallner
WITH:Robert Watson
Ursula Hesse von den Steinen
Pumeza Matshikiza
Martin Snell
Iris van Wijnen
Thomas Tischler
Jihoon Kwon
Bryony Dwyer
Feride Büyükdenktas
Veronika Dünser
Chor des Stadttheaters Klagenfurt
Statisterie des Stadttheaters Klagenfurt
Kärntner Sinfonieorchester
Photos: Karl-Heinz Fessl

“Eva-Maria Höckmayr moves her successful production (…) into a museum of this time. As a result, the concept succeeds even more, as both Rusalka and the prince literally hang on to images in what they think is love until the bitter end, instead of becoming curious about what they are really like.”

Der Standard, Wien, Michael Cerha, 19.9.2018

“Eva-Maria Höckmayr refrained in her production from romanticism, fairy tales, forest, pond or mermaids (…)… the distanced treatment of the theme with paintings of sea and forest scenes, portraits of women, but also of the mystical white deer that the prince sees in Rusalka, makes perfect sense, (…) just as the direction of the characters reproduced in detail the emotional feelings of the actors.”

Opernglas, Hamburg, November 2018, W.Kutzschbach

“The production by Eva-Maria Höckmayr is simply magnificent (…). The mermaid wanders through the art of the 19th century, searches for the beloved prince and fails against social reality. A highly sensitive direction, unpretentious and without corniness, and therefore captivating.”

Woche Kärnten, Ilse Gerhardt, 19.9.2018

“Director Eva-Maria Höckmayr has stripped all fairytale-like qualities from the tragic story of a nymph becoming human (…). Marginalization and exclusion float along at every moment in this intelligent production with its virtuoso character direction and consolidates into an enchanting farewell song that goes far into the present day.”

Kronenzeitung, Irina Lino, 15.9.2018

“(…) always balancing between the concrete, the illusory and the dream; an associative gallery of images passes by (…), including blind surfaces as a space that one may, as it were, paint out for oneself. One can meet in it, but also miss or lose oneself. The metaphorical approach of Eva-Maria Höckmayr’s direction works concisely for two acts thanks to sophisticated character direction. (…) this performance possesses a challenging, at times also transversal quality.”

Opernwelt, November 2018, Karl Harb

“…cool, elegant, distanced. (…) Eva-Maria Höckmayr’s staging with the literally dreamlike stage design by Julia Rösler relativizes space and time.”

APA, Klagenfurt, 14.9.2018

“The lyrical fairy tale in three acts is free of the fairy tale cliché and was cheered by the audience. The otherness of Rusalka is obvious. (…) That Rusalka in Klagenfurt was cast with the South African soprano Pumeza Matshikiza underlines the production’s intention to point out exclusion in every respect.”

ORF Kärnten, Horst L.Ebner, 14.9.2018