Nina Russi. The internationally upcoming Swiss director is the winner of the 2019 Götz Friedrich Award and a semi-finalist at the 2020 Ring Award Graz.
Since 2015, Nina Russi has been directing musical theater works at Zurich Opera, Staatstheater Nürnberg, Staatstheater Darmstadt, Theater Aachen, Mainfranken Theater Würzburg, Theater St. Gallen, Konzert Theater Bern and others. Her productions are characterized by psychologically subtle characters as well as energetic and strong visual realizations. In her stagings, she always searches for existential and topical themes in the works and consistently illuminates the traditional narrative structures from the female perspective.
"Nina Russi's production lives from the character direction and an extraordinary richness of detail, which, however, never puts itself before the story, but rather differentiates and enriches it with many small images and gestures that are never meaningless and always support the narrative."
Die Deutsche Bühne, 2019, on Trouble in Tahiti / A Quiet Place
"Zurich director Nina Russi imaginatively brings Giuseppe Verdi's successful opera "La Traviata" to the stage and dismisses a carried away audience after an impressive evening. (...) Russi positions Violetta not so much as a courtesan, but as a consciously reflective woman who has to choose between partying and fleeting amusement and a genuine love - and chooses. One comes very close to this woman. It's mostly about her, less about the men and their view of her."
St. Galler Tagblatt, 2022, on La traviata
"Thanks to the direction, the opera plot oscillates coherently between superficial science fiction and real human problems with an emphasis on existential questions, enigmatic and somehow still entertaining with a light hand. A plus here is the skillful drawing of the characters. (...) The audience (...) celebrates the unusual, thought-provoking and also musically successful and highly demanding production for a long time, with many bravos as a plea for a fulfilled life."
O-Ton - Kulturmagazin, 2022, on The Makropulos Affair