Semyon Bychkov leads a musically superior Rusalka at Covent Garden

Asmik Grigorian (Rusalka)

Asmik Grigorian (Rusalka) and ensemble

Asmik Grigorian (Rusalka) and David Butt Philip (The Prince)

Ross Ramgobin (Gamekeeper), Dame Sarah Connolly (Ježibaba) and Hongni Wu (Kitchen Boy)

David Butt Philip (The Prince)

By Mark Pullinger, 22 February 2023

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“I wondered if Semyon Bychkov had actually snuck the Czech Philharmonic into the Covent Garden pit”

Reviewed at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 21 February 2023

Dvořák, Rusalka

The Royal Opera

Semyon Bychkov, Conductor

Natalie Abrahami, Director

Chloe Lamford, Set Designer

Annemarie Woods, Costume Designer

Paule Constable, Lighting Designer

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden

Royal Opera Chorus

Ann Yee, Director, Choreography

Asmik Grigorian, Rusalka

David Butt Philip, Prince

Aleksei Isaev, Vodník, the water goblin

Dame Sarah Connolly, Ježibaba, the Witch

Emma Bell, Foreign Princess

Ross Ramgobin, Gamekeeper

Hongni Wu, Kitchen Boy

Vuvu Mpofu, First Wood Sprite

Gabrielė Kupšytė, Second Wood Sprite

Anne Marie Stanley, Third Wood Sprite

Josef Jeongmeen Ahn, The Hunter

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.