While Valentine’s Day cards celebrate picture-perfect romance, most would agree that love is rarely a fairy tale. However, Dvorak’s Rusalka (1901), on the stage of both the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Metropolitan Opera this month, may suggest that this is for the best.
Rusalka is based on the Czech fairytale which inspired Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. Unlike Andersen’s fable or the subsequent Disney film, this work is a story of betrayal and remorse which ends in tragedy for both the water nymph (“mermaid”) and her prince.
Dvorak’s opera is most famous for the first act aria “The Song to the Moon,” performed frequently in concerts and heard in the movie Driving Miss Daisy. Despite its beautiful score and entrancing bittersweet tale, it has only recently gained popularity in western opera houses. The Met did not perform this work until 1993, and this will be the Lyric’s inaugural performance. To commemorate the occasion, the Lyric offers an imaginative new production directed by Sir David McVicar, whose previous work with Lyric includes recent productions of Elektra andManon.
Thanks to the generosity of Fathom Events, PN is giving away a pair of tickets to broadcasts of Dvorak’s Rusalka (live: 11:55AM, Feb. 8; encore: 6:30PM, Feb. 12) and Borodin’s Prince Igor (live: 11AM, Mar. 1; encore: 6:30PM, Mar. 5) at the Regal Cantera 17 in Warrenville.
To enter to win tickets, please email emilyriederer@gmail.com with your name and address.
For a complete schedule of the Met: Live in HD season and to find a theater near you, visit www.FathomEvents.com. Information on the Lyric’s Rusalka, which opens Feb. 22, can be found at www.lyricopera.org.
