Opera Queensland’s superb incarnation of Dvořák’s Rusalka is surreal: a cautionary tale, a nightmare as directed by the accomplished Sarah Giles.

Grounded in Slavic folklore and European mythology, this fabulous production was commissioned by the Opera Conference, the national partnership of professional opera companies. The narrative bears traces of the thwarted romance of Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué’s Undine and Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. Its themes interrogate alienation and the desperate quest to belong.

Rusalka yearns for a human life. She’s lonely, living among an aquatic sisterhood in a bleak underwater realm ruled by Vodník, the Water King. Warwick Fyfe inhabits the Vodník role as if Dvořák wrote it especially for him. His kingly brooding and morbid reflections are revealed through splendid baritonal gravitas.

Ashlyn Tymms in Opera Queensland’s Rusalka. Photo © Steph Do Rozario

Longing for acceptance and validation, Rusalka is restless, pining. Recalling the story of Faust, she willingly accepts a dodgy deal offered by the witch Ježibaba, wonderfully realised by Ashlyn Tymms. In the throes of an existential meltdown, Rusalka trades her voice and watery home in the blink of an eye, all for the love of an unworthy prince. Rosario La Spina sings his heart out in marvellous form as the flawed mortal royal.

What could possibly go wrong? Well, plenty, as it turns out, and the strong singing across the board from OQ’s chorus, the three wood sprites Maia Andrews, Eleanor Greenwood and Shikara Ringdahl, Shaun Brown as the gamekeeper, Carlos Barcenas as the hunter, and Aylish Ryan as the kitchen-hand, impressively drives the drama to a pointy end. Rusalka is condemned to endure a fate of liminal uncertainty, forever stranded between human and underwater worlds.

Special qualities abound. Recalling Richard Bonynge and Joan Sutherland, conductor Vladimir Fanshil and lead soprano Eleanor Lyons – who excels technically and expressively and is vocally magnificent as Rusalka – are a true partnership. Each can sense where the other is building intensity, where a silence should be prolonged, or how a melodic line is shaped. Their artistic rapport is a winning element.

Visually, the set is thoughtful and clever, illustrative, sensual and surprising, blessed by a brilliant layering of materials, video projections and stunning lighting design. Set Designer Charles Davis, Lighting Designer Paul Jackson and Video Content Creator David Bergman deserve credit, as does Renee Mulder for her edgy, otherworldly costumes. Together, these four transformed the Glasshouse Theatre’s stage into a swimming supernatural world of liquid wonder, the visual aesthetic mirroring Dvořák’s shimmering, flowing score.

Opera Queensland’s Rusalka. Photo © Steph Do Rozario

The final act is fraught, with a broken Rusalka plaintively asking the now remorseful Prince why he made love to her and then rapidly switched his attention to the Duchess, played by Eva Kong, who vividly embodies a coquettish rival. After the hero’s death — unusually for traditional opera, the victim is male — Rusalka’s final lament is raw: a haunting showdown, with Lyons’ soaring high notes painting her grief in blood. Her tone is gloriously soulful.

Nuanced by a super-responsive Queensland Symphony Orchestra, which tellingly spearheads the brassy fanfares synonymous with the Prince, nails the sprightly folksy rhythms, or stokes the dark intensity of Vodník’s arias, the ensemble consistently does justice to Dvořák’s imaginatively variable score. There are stunning solos from the cor anglais, the violins and sweeping, crystal-clear rippled lines from the harp in Rusalka’s popular Song to the Moon.

Time flew in this charming, absorbing, dreamlike spectacular, with Dvořák’s emotionally spun music lovingly spirited into life by conductor, orchestra, soloists and chorus.

Opera Queensland presents Rusalka in the Glasshouse Theatre, QPAC, Brisbane until 4 July.