from the Stage into the Gallery — Madis Nurms

The solo exhibition Character by scenographer Madis Nurms opens on September 13 at the Gallery of Pärnu Keskus, offering an intimate glimpse into the intricate world of PromFest’s stage costumes. This unique exhibition showcases striking costumes from the festival’s international opera productions dating back to 2007. The exhibition is designed by Indrek Aija.

Costumes that usually remain far away in the depths of the stage are now within arm’s reach – visitors can study their construction, materials, and delicate details. In addition, costume sketches are exhibited, revealing the process and backstage world of shaping a character. The aim of the exhibition is to bring viewers closer to the multilayered nature of scenography – each costume is both a design object and a part of the production, which in the gallery gains an entirely new life.

“A costume tells stories through color, cut, and material. Frozen within it are a character’s past, experiences, and dreams. In the gallery, one can explore these stories so closely that every stitch feels like it rests in the palm of your hand. Opera is my great passion. Since the genre is by nature larger than life – the music is powerful and it deals with extreme emotional situations in human life – the designer must be able to create a visual partner equal to it.”

Madis Nurms

Madis Nurms is a freelance stage designer who has created productions in Austria, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Since 2007, he has designed the visuals for all PromFest productions. He made his directorial debut in 2015 with the opera Aida, followed by Arnold Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire (2018) and Francis Poulenc’s opera La Voix humaine (The Human Voice, 2024).

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