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With "Elektra," Richard Strauss created one of the most gripping and emotionally intense works in opera literature. The story, based on the ancient tragedy, revolves around Elektra's relentless desire for revenge for the murder of her father.

EPSG:4326

Elektra

Palace of Culture

In a courtyard of the Mycenaean palace servant girls speak disparagingly about Elektra. Elektra has not got over the murder of her father, Agamemnon, and the idea of revenge dominates her thoughts. Only one of the maidservants shows sympathy for her and is punished as a result. Elektra is yearning for the moment when vengeance will be hers and fully believes that it will come about by the actions of her brother, Orest, who was brought up in a distant region. Her sister, Chrysothemis, finds Elektra’s existence hard to bear and attempts to protect her from their mother, who has evil intentions. Chrysothemis wants to leave that awful place along with her sister so that they can live in freedom. Their mother Clytemnestra, who has been plagued by nightmares since she killed her husband, asks her daughter Elektra for help and while their conversation lasts it seems as if the two women might be reconciled. But Elektra’s hatred flares up again when Clytemnestra lies to her daughter over the whereabouts of her son, Orest. Elektra replies ambiguously to Clytemnestra’s question about the remedy for her anguish and fear, telling her mother that once the proper animal has been sacrificed under the axe her bad dreams will cease. Two strangers arrive and report the death of Orest. Elektra expresses her desire to ally with Chrysothemis in committing the deed, but her sister cannot contemplate such a thing. Determined to avenge herself, Elektra resolves: “Fine, then, I’ll do it alone!” One of the strangers moves closer to Elektra; shaken at the sight of her physical and emotional state, he allows her to see who he is: Orest. He exits to do the deed and presently Clytemnestra’s screams can be heard as she dies. Whereupon Elektra lures Aegisthus into the palace and he is killed by Orest as well. Agamemnon has been avenged. Nonetheless, Elektra stays in the palace feeling no sense of relief; she dances herself to death.

Deutsche Oper Berlin

"Noble simplicity and quiet grandeur"? No way! With their breathtaking operatic shocker "Elektra," Richard Strauss and his librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal completely turned the 18th-century idealized image of antiquity on its head in 1909. Horror instead of humanism, revenge instead of a feat of glory, bloodbath instead of a flowering of culture: this one-act opera leaves no one unmoved to this day. And in terms of the musical language, Strauss and his mammoth orchestra also went to extremes in every respect.

Strauss: Elektra / Alan Gilbert

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

Jakub Hruša conducts Claus Guth’s Olivier award-winning production of Janáček’s Jenůfa. A gripping opera of shame, betrayal and redemption. 

Jenůfa

Royal Opera House

Die Walküre is the second of Wagner’s four-opera Ring cycle. The first act narrates the tale of a forbidden romance with Wagnerian grandeur and themes that call the cycle’s other operas and characters to mind. FWSO Music Director Robert Spano leads the orchestra and star vocalists in a special concert version of this act, preceded by Sibelius’ Symphony No. 6, which the composer poetically described as “cold spring water” and the “scent of first snow.”

Soprano

Karita Mattila

Events

Past events

12 - 15 Mar, 2026

Elektra · Dresdner Philharmonie

21 - 27 Feb, 2026

Elektra · Deutsche Oper Berlin

Future and recently performed repertoire

Klytämnestra in Elektra by Strauss

Dresdner Philharmonie

Klytämnestra in Elektra by Strauss

Deutsche Oper Berlin

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