Following her admired La traviata, Sarah Giles’ attention turns to Dvořák’s fairytale opera about a water sprite who barters the power of speech to enter the world of humans. Nicole Car returns to the OA stage for the first time in seven years to sing the title role. Gerard Schneider sings her fickle love interest, Warwick Fyfe is her father and Ashlyn Tymms is Ježibaba. “Giles’ focus is not on the potentially eye-rolling fickleness of the Prince … but rather on a character searching for their identity and womanhood,” wrote Limelight when the production premiered in Perth last year. Johannes Fritzsch conducts.

Limelight Editor’s Choice

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.