KSENIA RAVVINA, born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, based in Berlin, Germany, is a theatre director, author and curator. She studied history at Saint Petersburg State University, theatre directing in Frankfurt and applied theatre studies at Justus Liebig University in Giessen.
Ksenia Ravvina works at the intersection of different forms and genres, encompassing performance/theatre, opera and multimedia conceptual works. As a border crosser, she deals with themes such as absence and visibility. Her work is characterized in particular by the scenic articulation of complex theoretical issues by means of an artistic language in which the political and the poetic are indissolubly interwoven.
In recent years, several projects have been created in Germany, Bulgaria, Latvia and the USA, including collaborations with Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Theater und Orchester Heidelberg, Staatstheater Darmstadt, Schauspielhaus Bochum, Dirty Deal Teatro in Riga a.o., and various works in cooperation with Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt, Frankfurt LAB, Schwankhalle Bremen, Tanzplattform Rhein-Main, RUHRTRIENNALE, Opera Philadelphia, and Deutsches Theater Berlin.
In 2019, Ksenia Ravvina co-created the opera “DENIS & KATYA” at Opera Philadelphia, USA. The piece garnered worldwide acclaim and received various international prizes (FEDORA – GENERALI Prize for Opera 2019, Finalist of the International Opera Awards 2020, among others). In the same year, she directed “UNTERTITEL. EINE TECHNO OPER IN DREI AKTEN” at Atelierfrankfurt. In spring 2021, she brought the play “THE ARRIVAL” to Theater Münster. In October 2021, her work “IN A REAL TRAGEDY, IT IS NOT THE HEROINE WHO DIES; IT IS THE CHORUS” premiered at Deutsches Theater Berlin.
In the summer of 2022, as part of Sofia’s “180° – laboratory for innovative art” festival, she presented a series of works titled “existinct.” This continued into spring 2023, concluding with a scenic concert under the same title in collaboration with Ensemble Modern.
Starting in the fall of 2023, Ksenia Ravvina, along with Alexandar Hadjiev, will lead the artistic direction of the HAUPTSACHE FREI festival in Hamburg for the next three editions from 2024 to 2026.
December 08. and 09., 2023 I Theater im Delphi, Berlin
In A Real Tragedy It Is Not The Heroine Who Dies; It Is The Chorus
Ksenia Ravvina verwischt die Realitätsebenen, indem sie ihre Inszenierung raffiniert zwischen analoger und digitaler Repräsentation balancieren lässt. […]
In a [real] tragedy…” von Ksenia Ravvina ist […] die ästhetisch aufwändigste und zugleich gelungenste Produktion.
Sophie Diesselhorst, nachtkritik.de (10. Oktober 2021)
Die Performance von Ksenia Ravvina kreist um das Verschwinden widerständiger Stimmen und Bilder, um das Mundtotmachen kritischer Künstler:innen.
Patrick Wildermann im Tagesspiegel (11. Oktober 2021)
The Arrival
Regisseurin Ksenia Ravvina belässt es indes nicht bei Bildzitaten aus Tans Buch…[…]
In einer phänomenalen Montage wird die Vorlage virtuell nachgestellt, projiziert, gesampelt, geloopt, zerhackt, die beiden Darstellenden als dutzendfacher Spuk.
Als ein Haufen tanzender Punkte über einem stehenden, gefilterten Synthesizer-Akkord irrlichtert, symbolisiert das nicht nur die Vereinzelung in der Masse, sondern schlägt gar eine kosmische Brücke zu Stanley Kubricks „2001: Odyssee im Weltraum“. Jeder Mensch: ein Migrant.
Die Grenzen von Film- und Bühnenkunst sind hier fließend. [Es] entsteht beeindruckendes experimentelles Kino, das die Frage der Perspektive bis zum Ende immer neu beleuchtet.
Wolfgang Müller, Münstersche Zeitung (09 Mai 2021)
Denis & Katya
[…] an uneasily poignant reflection on storytelling, on the possibilities and limitations of our understanding — especially across space and language in the fragmentary era of social media. At just over an hour, with just six performers, it’s an intimate, haunting triumph.
Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times (September 23, 2019)
[…] the most brilliantly original operatic work I’ve seen in a decade, it’s a sensitive, subtle, and deeply questioning meditation on youth, voyeurism, and the age of social media.
Clive Paget, Musical America (September 20, 2019)
Each piece of Denis & Katya is impeccably thought out […] There has not been a piece of theater that has made me think so deeply in a very long time.
Alyssa Biederman, Broadway World (US) (September 19, 2019)
a.o.
kser07@gmail.com
KSENIA RAVVINA – theatre director and dramaturge, based in Berlin, Germany. She received her diploma as a historian at the State University in Saint Petersburg. She studied theatre directing at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt. In 2010 she got the Best Director Award for the play WHITE NIGHTS at the 14th International Dostoyevsky Chamber Festival, Staraya Russa, Russia. In the winter semester 2014/2015 she started a Master’s degree in Applied Theatre Studies at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen, where she worked on scenic projects with Heiner Goebbels, Walid Raad, Bojana Kunst i.a. Ksenia Ravvina created performances on German and Russian stages, including projects for the State Theatre Wiesbaden, the Theatre and Orchester Heidelberg, State Theatre Darmstadt and various works in cooperation with the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt, the Frankfurt LAB and the Schwankhalle in Bremen. She collaborated with different artists such as Artyom Ignatiev, Anastasia Kadruleva (The Theatre Ballet Moscow), Amancio Gonzalez, Katja Cheraneva, Alexander Hadjiev, Ted Huffman, Kristina Veit, Philip Venables, the MichaelDouglas Collective and others.
Her work ADOLESCENCE was chosen for the residency program “Campustriennale Materclass” of the RUHRTRIENNALE 2016. In 2017 Ksenia Ravvina directed the KulturTagJahr 2016/17 – Altana Cultural Foundation at the Charles Hallgarten School in Frankfurt. She was a scholarship holder of the international research residency “next generation workspace”, Theatre for Young Audiences in Frankfurt 2017/2018. With her work MAKULATUR she received a multi-city residency in the frames of Tanzplattform Rhein-Main 2017/2018. In spring 2018 she worked as a dramaturge and artistic consultant in performances for Dirty Deal Theatre Riga and ZUKT_#TANZ Mousonturm Frankfurt. 2019 Ksenia Ravvina worked as co-creator and dramaturge at the Opera Philadelphia, USA by the piece DENIS & KATYA and directed UNTERTITEL. EINE TECHNO OPER IN DREI AKTEN in Frankfurt.