Photographer Monika Rittershaus is regarded as an inspiring interpreter of today’s musical theatre in all its diversity, opulence, and drama, but also in its human profundity, uniqueness, and veracity. As a highly sensitive observer, she looks out over the on-stage activity, uncovering gentle, touching, and peripheral moments. Barrie Kosky: “I have often observed Monika at work through the corner of my eye as I sit behind the production desk ... She seems to sense the inner world of a moment and to know at exactly the right moment when to click her camera.” In her highly stringent visual compositions, Rittershaus depicts in a personalized and decisive way many influential directors and operas such as:

DAS RHEINGOLD, Richard Wagner, Los Angeles Opera (2009), director: Achim Freyer

COSI FAN TUTTE, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Salzburger Festspiele (2020), director: Christof Loy

TANNHÄUSER, Richard Wagner, De Nationale Opera, Amsterdam (2019), director: Christof Loy

CARMEN, Georges Bizet, Oper Frankfurt (2016), director: Barrie Kosky

SALOME, Richard Strauss, Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow (2021), director: Claus Guth

ELEKTRA, Richard Strauss, Staatsoper Hamburg (2022), director: Dmitri Tcherniakov

IPHIGÉNIE EN TAURIDE, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Opernhaus Zurich (2020), director: Andreas Homoki

CENDRILLON, Jules Massenet, Opéra National de Paris Bastille (2022), director: Mariame Clément


Text in English and German.