Prague Quadrennial 2019 interview : https://www.spreaker.com/user/11279157/erhard-rom

But the ultimate star here was the production itself, a tour de force for Chicago Opera Theater with many moving parts in Erhard Rom’s ingenious scenic design.

-Howard Reich, CHICAGO TRIBUNE

 showcasing the ingenious imagination of Rom and the production team. What’s more, this imagination continues throughout the entirety of the piece, holding twists, turns, and surprises for the audience every step of the way.

-Spicer W. Carr, FRONT ROW REVIEWERS UTAH

 Set designer Erhard Rom is celebrated not only for his artistic gifts but also for mounting attractive multiple sets with economy of means.

-James Sohre, OPERA TODAY

 Otello's other great strength is its striking sets and imagery by Erhard Rom, the designer who made such an unforgettable impact with 2010’s Nixon in China.

- Janet Smith, THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT

 Matching the intensity of the performances is Erhard Rom's artful design.

-Janet Smith, THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT

 …looming set designs by Erhard Rom. The claustrophobic interiors, cut with images of incarceration, were central to the production's success …. a "really bold and fascinating" interpretation, "right up there" with the best

- Terry Blain, THE STAR TRIBUNE

 Erhard Rom's tiered unit set…. proved incredibly versatile. Projections swiftly created a steamy lakeside, and added texture to the more spartan prevailing environments.

- Katherine Syer, BACHTRACK

 ...the current production is an exquisite work of stagecraft…...The creative team's work is wonderful…... Projections are used intelligently, not as replacements for set pieces but to bring additional dimensions to the environment….

-Arthur Dorman, TALKIN’ BROADWAY

 …..a sizable financial investment in the creative powers of scenic designer Erhard Rom….The setting, originally intended to be the palace of Herod Antipas in Judea circa 30 A.D., was altered in Atlanta to portray an ambiguous era……Rom’s set was off-kilter and industrial: a cistern with a massive, metal grate atop dominated the space. Above all hovered a hulking, omnipresent moon that grew larger and glowed red after Jochanaan was beheaded.

-Stephanie Adrian, OPERA NEWS

 …..set and projections Erhard Rom…the story’s timelessness is front and center. Projections are used not to replace scenery, rather to help penetrate and illuminate the inner psyche….The stage becomes no longer representational, but a theater of the mind…….visually dominating the opera’s final scene……. much remains an enigma, left to poetic interpretation. It does not want to answer all questions and is more powerful by not doing so.

-Mark Gresham, EEarRelevant

a projection sequence displayed on the now giant moon during Salome’s epic final scene, juxtaposed with the princess cradling the covered severed head of Johanaan was extraordinarily disturbing and inspired Grand Guinol.

- Daniel Vasquez, Opera newoutpost.com

Director Michael Cavanagh and set designer Erhard Rom have created a cinematic performance, in which the drifting clouds in the opening scene in retrospect appears as the central metaphors……. a cloud world where everything seems solid, at any time can change shape.

-Per Svensson, Cultural Scene Reviews

Nixon in Stockholm an aural and visual spectacle…. The production…. is so closely integrated with the music and surprises with exquisitely chiseled details….. The landing of Spirit of ’76 is breathtaking when suddenly the enormous Boeing 707 fills the whole width of the stage. Sometimes the realism – which is rather stylized anyway – gives way for dreamlike sequences. It is so admirably done.

- Göran Forsling, Seenandheard-international.com

Designer Erhard Rom artfully mixes video projections and physical structures to make us feel like we’re in the middle of events.

-David Karlin

The creative juices of Erhard Rom (sets), Constance Hoffman (costumes) and Jane Cox (lighting) combine in a delicious blend of adaptable spaces, quirkinesses and subtlety. Cavanagh, in all the deftly directed comic footwork he creates, couldn’t have asked for a more evocative scenographic picture.

-OperaCaser

The physical production is impressive, featuring an elegant 18th-century manor house that’s still under construction. The clever set design by Erhard Rom includes a mix of neoclassical structures and architectural drawings on flats that look like huge sheets of drafting paper with grids. It allows the story to move quickly from a drawing room to an exterior facade to a study or lovely garden.

-Stephen West, Cultural Weekly

…brilliantly staged and cleverly designed….Erhard Rom’s beautifully rendered set…

-Steven Winn, Opera Magazine

Elements cohered like clockwork…. San Francisco Opera’s vibrant production ….Erhard Rom’s sets, softly lit by Jane Cox, featured high-ceilinged rooms and floating walls that resembled architectural drawings.

-Georgia Rowe, Opera News

With set designer Erhard Rom director Cavanagh created a setting that was fully 18th century in image and fully 21st century in technique with the set participating in the action. …a huge architectural drawing…. slowly morphing, videographically, into a fully realized façade elevation (drawing) of the aristocratic home we were about to enter. This occurred in precise, riveting synchrony to Mozart’s well-conducted overture. It was a visual distraction, very finely and thoroughly done…

-Michael Milenski, OPERA TODAY

Erhard Rom’s 18th-century American manor house set, a toy box deconstruction that takes shape during the overture and gains three-dimensional depth and stature through the action, serves as an ideal vessel and an architectural delight in its own right……. Cavanagh and his collaborators give this romantic roundelay a new dimension.

-Steven Winn, San Francisco Classical Voice