Singer

Complete ecstasy, extreme states: the ancient drama surrounding Elektra opens up abysses. But the shock is of great majesty. Richard Strauss composed the corresponding music: terribly beautiful, of overwhelming sensuality.

Richard Strauss created this family tragedy with bold harmonies and late romantic gestures - from the title heroine's thirst for revenge to its terrible fulfillment. Elektra's father was killed by her mother and her lover. Now her brother Orestes returns and murders the murderers. Elektra dances and collapses in triumph. Iréne Theorin in the lead role and Violeta Urmana as Clytemnestra guarantee a gripping mother-daughter duel. Two world opera stars visiting Cologne!

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Strauss: Elektra

The Staatstheater Stuttgart

This work marks the start of the legendary collaboration between Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Elektra is a dark and wild work whose musical and dramatic power never ceases to fascinate. The score and main role are unique in the lyric repertoire and Strauss, a great tonal painter, immerses us in unprecedented musical and vocal violence. In a single act lasting just under 1 hour and 45 minutes, the musician traces and dissects the meanderings and flashes of radiance of the human psyche based on Sophocles’ tragedy reworked by Hugo Von Hofmannstahl. To avenge the sacrifice of her daughter Iphigenia, Queen Clytemnestra murders her husband, King Agamemnon. His murder invokes the revenge of their daughter Elektra. But it is not easy to kill your mother and vengeance sets in motion an unstoppable chain of events. Strauss puts the singers through their paces, especially the title role. Elektra is a true test of strength for the soprano and is reputed to be one of the most difficult roles in the operatic repertoire. With the extraordinary dramatic and vocal intensity she recently demonstrated in Munich, Iréne Theorin is one of the finest performers in this role today. Violeta Urmana’s Clytemnestra will be more than a match for Elektra’s power.

Elektra

Théâtre des Champs-Elysées

In Brave New World in 1932, the loyal Freudian Aldous Huxley had one of his characters describe families as turbo-incubators of human neuroses, in whose warm, humid climate one could only go crazy. In the case of the Atride family, whose psychosocial abnormalities were addressed by Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal in 1909, one generation hands the ax to the next: Clytemnestra avenges the sacrifice of her daughter Iphigenia on her husband Agamemnon, Elektra uses her brother Orestes to murder her the mother and her lover Aegisthus, only sister Chrysothemis longs for home and hearth. Peter Konwitschny lets the children watch the patricide in the bathtub. But the retribution will be anything but liberation.

Simone Schneider

Soprano

Events

Past events

May 21, 2024

Strauss: Elektra · Kölner Philharmonie

Apr 29, 2024

Elektra · Théâtre des Champs-Elysées

Future and recently performed repertoire

Chrysothemis in Elektra by Strauss

Théâtre des Champs-Elysées

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