The Scene and the Unseen

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.