Concert

Strauss' Elektra (opera in concert)

Esa-Pekka Salonen (conductor) – Lise Lindstrom (Elektra), Ingela Brimberg (Chrysothemis), Anna Larsson (Klytaemnestra), Eric Owens (Orest)... – Verbier Festival Orchestra

Live
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Cast

Lise Lindstrom — Elektra

Ingela Brimberg — Chrysothemis

Anna Larsson — Klytaemnestra

Eric Owens — Orest

Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke — Aegisth

Jasper Leever — Orest's Tutor, An Old Servant

Aleksandra Rybakova — Klytaemnestra's Confidante, An Overseer

Anna Harvey — The Trainbearer, Fourth Maid

Andrew Staples — A Young Servant

Idunnu Münch — First Maid

Anastasiia Sidorova — Second Maid

Bethan Langford — Third Maid

Anna-Maria Palii — Fifth Maid

Verbier Festival Orchestra

Esa-Pekka Salonen — Conductor

Program notes

After the opening concert performance of Salomé, the Verbier Festival presents a second Richard Strauss masterpiece in concert: Elektra. A festival highlight featuring Maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen at the baton—a seasoned conductor of this work—, the formidable trio of Lise Lindstrom, Ingela Brimberg, and Anna Larsson in the leading female roles, and Eric Owens in the role of Orest.

Like Salomé, Elektra is a Literaturoper, setting music to a pre-existing literary text. After seeing a performance of the Viennese poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal's play Elektra, Strauss decided, with von Hofmannsthal's consent, to transform the work into an opera. A reworking of Sophocles' legendary Greek tragedy of Antiquity, Strauss' Elektra calls for a massive orchestra, one of the largest in the history of opera.

After his return from the Trojan Wars, Agamemnon is assassinated by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. Elektra, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, is consumed by her desire for vengeance...

Made possible by the support of the Tabor Foundation.
Photo: Esa-Pekka Salonen © Minna Hatinen

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