Elektra (Salzburg Festival)

Elektra (Salzburg Festival) with Aušriné Stundyté, Asmik Grigorian, and Tanja Ariane Baumgartner – In its 100th anniversary edition, the Salzburg Festival celebrates a real triumph with a mind-blowing new production of Elektra, one of the most famous masterpieces of opera history by the two festival founders Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The Lithuanian soprano Aušriné Stundyté as vengeful and traumatized Elektra turns the opening of the festival into a knockout performance, while Asmik Grigorian draws the audience into a spell as her sister Chrysotemis. Tanja Ariane Baumgartner as Klytämnestra, Derek Welton as Orest and Michael Laurenz as Ägisth complete an ensemble of top-notch singers. The staging by Krzysztof Warlikowski of this work about matricide, obsession, revenge, and physical degradation is a deep psychological study of a broken family. Franz Welser-Möst brings his trademark flair to the pit where the brilliantly effervescent Wiener Philharmoniker creates gloriously exultant Strauss moments.