As an opera with a phenomenal palette of orchestral colours underlining the depth of the dramatic elements in the Czech composer’s work, Rusalka is a favourite of conductor Ádám Fischer, who knows all of its nuances after conducting it at La Monnaie for the premiere of this production. With his experience leading many orchestras in the biggest theatres and opera festivals, this committed artist shares a precious and thorough view of works with young stage directors, which was much appreciated by Stefan Herheim in particular.

You conduct many symphony concerts as well as opera productions – for the moment your work is devoted above all to Mozart. Do you feel that opera and instrumental music are closely related?
Yes and no, because opera requires other qualities: opera is closer to chamber music, in which there are musical ‘partners’. In the context of a symphony, I also have partners of course, but we work together in a different way. These are two aspects of the same story and each has its distinctive feature. I like to believe that the two genres are not so far apart; I seek the string quartet in an opera by Wagner, and the opera or dramatic power in a string quartet by Mozart. Each work must tell an emotional story, even if it is not verbalised. The interest of any musical genre lies in the association of dramatic and intimate elements.

You are returning to La Monnaie to conduct the same production as in 2008. Are you considering giving it different accents or will you stay with the same approach?
I have the advantage of knowing the production now, and one can always find a better way of interpreting a work. I do not want to initiate another working method but I want to take advantage of the experience I had three years ago. This allows me to anticipate the final result. Yet we can never decide beforehand which direction things will take in an opera: we have to react to what happens on stage. Conducting an opera production is like staging a play. When a stage director imposes his or her vision without considering the personality of the singers and their way of singing and moving on stage, the final result shows this. It is essential for an orchestra conductor to be able to estimate and use the capacities of singers. This also means that he must be flexible with respect to his own ideas.

With some of the cast being new – in particular the two people in the role of Rusalka – will you approach certain aspects differently?
There will be modifications, but within a known framework. My work consists in discovering my ‘partners’: on stage as well as in the orchestra. It is up to me to benefit from their talent! Here is an example. When I want music to express joy, it is my decision. One flautist will play it differently from another, which is what I want to make possible within a framework. I have to determine the main lines of the framework in which the personal qualities of my partners will be brought out.

It is a beautiful idea.
Indeed, the idea is beautiful, but in practice things sometimes take a different turn. This approach allows certain musicians to give the best of themselves, yet others need much clearer and more concrete directions. One must therefore discover how to approach each of the musicians, which requires a certain sense of psychology. Psychology is essential, as well as experience. Karajan once said that one needs to have forty years of experience in order to become an orchestra conductor. This means that in order to be a true conductor at age sixty, one must start at age twenty and accept the fact that the first forty years count for nothing. [laughter] As regards Rusalka: this production resolutely situates the story of the nymph in our time. The story is relevant in every era: it is about people who get their hopes and desires mixed up with reality. They want to reach a goal and are disappointed when reality does not meet their expectations. Here is an example of how this could happen in our society: a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man get married and hope that their marriage will be a success. Along the way, they discover that it does not work due to their family circles, mentalities or for other reasons. But they can no longer go back to their starting point. This is just an example, but this is what Rusalka is about: this work speaks of one of the fundamental conflicts in life – a conflict which can have a thousand different faces. Each opera that we perform and each story that we tell should reflect our situation and our problems.

Dvořák gave a subtitle to his opera: ‘Lyric fairytale’. What does this tell the performer?
It indicates that Dvořák did not want to write a ‘classic’ opera dominated by fast action and situations of conflict. In his opera, emotions develop slowly; the music of Rusalka is closer to his symphonies than to Italian opera. And this ‘slowness’ makes the work all the more intense.

What is Dvořák’s musical contribution? Rusalka remains one of his most popular operas. What is this due to?
It is indeed Dvořák’s most successful opera, but this is relative compared with the success of an opera such as Verdi’s Il Trovatore, for instance. Dvořák uses the symphonic development and the wide flow of the music to tell a story. It is my job to ensure that the audience does not sense the ‘slowness’ as such. Rusalka is the type of work which requires a total investment of means, with the chamber music approach existing alongside the great symphonic approach, as I mentioned at the beginning of the interview. If one does not set about it this way, opera-goers – who are used to faster plots – wrongly consider this work to be boring. This is the worst which can happen.

Do you not have faith in the dramatic power of the score?
That is not what I meant. From a dramatic point of view, it is simply an atypical work. Part of the audience tends to reject what they do not know. With a poor interpretation of The Magic Flute, the performance can still be a success and the work remains intact. With Rusalka, this is not possible. This opera is characterised by a phenomenal palette of orchestral colours and dramatic elements. Our work consists in bringing out the drama, as it does not appear on its own.

It is striking to observe how this production is centred on the universality of its different themes.
In my opinion, this is what makes it a good production: it reveals the links between the work and our contemporary lives and feelings. I am convinced that every opera performance should have the same objective. Opera should touch us.

One last question: as a Hungarian artist, how do you feel about this past year which has been so eventful? I am referring to your leaving the Budapest Opera, the Hungarian EU Presidency and the media attention regarding the problems of Hungarian society, as well as the production of Nono’s Intolleranza which you were supposed to conduct in Brussels.
With hindsight, I can see that I did well to leave the Hungarian National Opera. However, I am not at all delighted about this: five general directors have succeeded one another since I left a year ago – a sad record. From a political point of view, what is happening in Hungary is tragic and continues to move in the wrong direction. Every day brings more new incidents and developments. The situation is worrying and must be followed closely. And we must remain vigilant everywhere in Europe – not only in Hungary.

Interview by Marie Mergeay