Elektra, Op. 58, TrV 223

Composer: Strauss, Richard

Librettist/Text Author: Hofmannsthal, Hugo von

Conductor: Salonen, Esa-Pekka

Orchestra: Orchestre de Paris

Chorus: Gulbenkian Choir

Aegisth: Randle, Tom

Chrysothemis: Pieczonka, Adrianne

Der Pfleger des Orest: Mazura, Franz

Die Aufseherin / Die Vertraute: Behle, Renate

Dritte Magd: Hablowetz, Silvia

Ein alter Diener: McIntyre, Donald

Ein junger Diener: Hoffmann, Florian

Elektra: Herlitzius, Evelyn

Erste Magd: Hyman, Bonita

Funfte Magd: Alexander, Roberta

Klytamnestra: Meier, Waltraud

Orest: Petrenko, Mikhail

Vierte Magd: Munger, Marie-Eve

Zweite Magd / Die Schlepptragerin: Hill, Andrea

Set Designer: Peduzzi, Richard

Costume Designer: de Vivaise, Caroline

Lighting Designer: Bruguiere, Dominique

Stage Director: Chereau, Patrice

Television Director: Metge, Stephane

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Date of Production: 07-2013

Festival: Aix-en-Provence Festival

Playing Time: 01:51:00

Catalogue Number: BAC110

UPC: 3760115301108

Synopsis

Elektra, Op. 58, TrV 223 (NTSC)

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A timeless tragedy told and retold through the centuries, staged by one of the most renowned visionaries of the opera stage to a score by an undisputed master of twentieth-century romanticism: all of this is on the bill in this production for the ages, performed in 2013 at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in the south of France. The legendary Patrice Chereau (who passed away just months later) honors Richard Strauss's masterpiece with feverish intensity, supported by a dream cast and an Orchestre de Paris in top form under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Soprano Evelyn Herlitzius gives life to the Elektra, the focus of Hugo von Hofmannsthal's libretto that drew its inspiration in the Sophocles play. The daughter of Agamemnon - murdered king of Mycenae, betrayed upon his return from the Trojan War by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus (the dazzling Waltraud Meier and Tom Randle)- Elektra is unafraid to court danger in search of justice, desperately trying to protect her younger brother Orestes (a brilliant Mikhail Petrenko), rightful heir to the throne, and seeking to avenge her father under the watchful eyes of his executioners.