Musical director Enrico Onofri / Markellos Chryssicos
Stage director Nina Russi
Set design Julia Katharina Berndt
Costume design Annemarie Bulla
Video Ruth Stofer
Dramaturgy Kathrin Brunner

Serse Raffaele Pe / Siena Licht Miller
Arsamene Christophe Dumaux / Simone McIntosh
Amastre Noa Beinart / Freya Apffelstaedt
Romilda Anna El-Khashem / Yewon Han
Atalanta Miriam Kutrowatz / Chelsea Zurflüh
Ariodate Miklos Sebestyén / Benjamin Molonfalean
Elviro Gregory Feldmann

Orchestra La Scintilla / Musikkollegium Winterthur
Statistenverein am Opernhaus Zürich

Premiere Opernhaus Zürich 29 September 2024
Premiere Theater Winterthur 06 May 2023

Photos © Herwig Prammer
Video recording available on request

Xerxes in the telenovela - how to bring baroque opera into the present day.
In her new production of George Frideric Handel's "Serse" at Theater Winterthur, Nina Russi completely distances herself from the ancient subject. Instead, together with the Opera Zurich's opera studio, she presents a colorful and successful transfer into the present. (...) The so effectively dazzling production culminates in an exuberant neo-pop party, which with its costumes and cast of characters can be placed somewhere between Baz Luhrmann's film adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet" and "Pirates of the Caribbean".
NZZ, Julia Ramseier

Great Handel Cinema in Winterthur
What the internationally up-and-coming director Nina Russi and her production team (...) put on the stage in Winterthur is great cinema. Nested stage cuboids can be shifted in no time at all, and video sequences serve to intensify the drama. (...) Russi shows fine antennae to uncover the comedic resources of the protagonists.
Südkurier, Joseph Auchter

Battle of the rivals
The love tangle, embedded in baroque sounds, was adapted to the present time with a coherent staging by Nina Russi, quite fitting for the youthful actors and actresses.
Oper und Kultur, Carmela Maggi

In the almost 3 hours long performance, director Nina Russi manages to unravel the at first sight complicated plot and to tell it in a way that everyone can understand - she shows today's characters in today's world. (...) Russi creates very individual personalities, magnificently supported by the incredibly great costume design by Annemarie Bulla. And Russi has an eye for details, for small intimate but also wonderfully funny moments. 
Arcimboldis World Blog