elektra

Sounds such as those unleashed by Richard Strauss with a huge orchestral apparatus in Elektra had not yet been heard until the premiere of the opera in 1909. And the radicalism and expressive ferocity of Elektra have lost none of their effect to this day. The archaic subject matter frightens and fascinates at the same time: Elektra, an infinitely lonely young woman, is kept alive simply by the thought of having to avenge the murder of her father Agamemnon committed by her mother. When revenge is done and her brother Orestes has killed her mother and her lover, Elektra dances an ecstatic dance, at the climax of which she collapses dead. An opera like a rollercoaster! With Ricarda Merbeth, one of the most important Wagner and Strauss interpreters of our time takes on the title role, the charismatic Okka von der Damerau debuts as Clytemnestra. Slovakian conductor Juraj Valčuha, one of the most influential guest conductors at the Deutsche Oper Berlin for years, conducts the monumental work.

Tragedy in one act by Richard Strauss Poetry by Hugo von Hofmannsthal based on the eponymous drama of Sophocles Premiered on January 25, 1909 in Dresden Premiered at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on November 3, 2007