Vita
The Swiss stage director Nina Russi has dedicated herself to music theatre and opera as well as interdisciplinary projects. She was distinguished with the Götz-Friedrich-Prize 2019 and semifinalist at the Ring Award 2020 in Graz/Austria.
© AK Berlin Photo
«In my music theater works, I track down existential and current topics and consequently illuminate the traditional narrative structures from the female perspective. My directorial work is characterized by psychologically differentiated character elaborations as well as dynamic and strong visual implementations. My interest lies in dissecting complex individual behavioral patterns and social constellations - always with the aim of telling stories that speak to the people of today.»
Stagings
In the current season 2023/2024, Nina Russi staged for the first time Richard Strauss' Elektra at the Mainfranken Theater Würzburg and received extremly positive reviews on her work. In spring 2024 her directorial debut will follow at the Staatstheater Darmstadt with Georg Friedrich Handel's Alcina.
For Leonard Bernstein's anniversary year 2018/2019, Nina Russi staged Bernstein's celebrated operas A Quiet Place and Trouble in Tahiti as a double evening at the Theater Aachen. This production was awarded with the Götz-Friedrich-Prize 2019.
With the reopening of the theatres in season 2021/2022, Nina Russi directed at Staatstheater Nürnberg Antonio Vivaldis Pasticcio Bajazet (Il Tamerlano), at Mainfranken Theater Würzburg The Makropulos Affair and at Theater St. Gallen Giuseppe Verdis La traviata. In season 2022/2023 she directed Georg Friedrich Händels Serse at Zurich Opera / Theater Winterthur.
At Zurich Opera, Nina Russi has directed the first Swiss release of the fantasy opera Coraline by British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage, the world premiere or the chamber opera Der Traum von Dir by Swiss composer Xavier Dayer after the novel "Letter from an Unknown Woman" by Stefan Zweig as well as the two contemporary children's operas Die Gänsemagd by the Berlin composer Iris ter Schiphorst and Gold! by Leonard Evers. At the Theater Winterthur and the Konzert Theater Bern, she brought the world premiere of the family opera Reise nach Tripiti onto the stage. She also staged one performance of Musik im Rausch, an exceptional concert cycle by violinist Deborah Marchetti, which brings classical music in conjunction with other art forms in unconventional spaces.
Scholarships
Nina Russi has held scholarships in several international theatre programmes: International Summer Arts Program, Watermill, New York, under the artistic direction of Robert Wilson (2008); European Academy of Music & Performing Arts in Montepulciano with Prof. Dr. Michael Hampe (2011); Directors’ Lab at Lincoln Theater Center, New York (2012); International Forum at the Berliner Theatertreffen (2014); Scholarship holder of the Bayreuth Festival through the Swiss Richard Wagner Society (2016). The Residency for a stage director of the enoa Institution (European Network of Opera Academies) brought her to the Teatr Wielki Warsaw (Polish National Opera), under the artistic direction of Mariusz Trelinski, as well as to the Festival D'Aix-en-Provence, where Bernard Foccroulle was her mentor (2018). In summer 2019 she participated in the Woman Opera Makers Workshop at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, led by British director Katie Mitchell.
Prizes and competitions
Nina Russi was with her Don Giovanni concept semifinalist at the RING AWARD 20 in Graz/ Styria. Furthermore she was awarded with the Götz-Friedrich-Prize 2019 hosted by the German Opera Conference. In 2018 she received a grant for the creation of theatre works from the Aargauer Kuratorium (Switzerland).
Resident Director
Since the 2007/2008 season, Nina Russi is resident director and assistant director at the Zurich Opera. In more than 30 new productions she collaborated with directors such as Calixto Bieito, Robert Carsen, Robert Wilson, Hans Neuenfels, Harry Kupfer, David Pountney, Graham Vick, Andreas Homoki, Matthias Hartmann, Sven-Eric Bechtolf, Jens-Daniel Herzog, Grischa Asagaroff, Tatjana Gürbaca and Barrie Kosky.
Further collaborations with the directors Peter Mussbach, Sebastian Baumgarten, Laurent Pelly and Marco Arturo Marelli took her to the international opera houses in Dresden, Berlin, Hamburg and Vienna. Alongside the Oscar winner Maximilian Schell, she supervised the operetta Wiener Blut at the Seefestspiele Mörbisch, Austria.
Nina Russi herself was on stage as a performer in various opera and musical productions, for example in Helmut Baumann's Victor/Victoria at the Theater Bremen, David Pountney's Ballo in Maschera and as young Norma in the legendary Norma by Robert Wilson at the Zurich Opera.
