Esa-Pekka Salonen Conducts ELEKTRA Starring Nina Stemme on GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET, 9/18
By: Caryn Robbins Aug. 15, 2016
Elektra, Richard Strauss's blazing tragedy about an ancient Greek princess hell-bent on revenge, comes to THIRTEEN'S GREAT PERFORMANCES at the Met. The opera, the final opera production by the legendary director Patrice Chreau who died in 2013, airs Sunday, September 18 at 12 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). (In New York, THIRTEEN will air the opera at 12:30 p.m.)
Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts an extraordinary cast headed by Nina Stemme as the obsessed and bloodthirsty title character. Waltraud Meier sings her first Met performances of Klytmnestra, Elektra's mother and the object of her fury, with Adrianne Pieczonka as Elektra's sister, Chrysothemis; Eric Owens as her exiled brother, Orest; and German tenor Burkhard Ulrich, in his Met debut, as the corrupt monarch Aegisth.
Elektra premiered in Dresden in 1909. Shortly after conquering the opera world with his scandalous masterpiece Salome, Richard Strauss turned to a recent adaptation of Sophocles's "Electra" by Austrian author Hugo von Hofmannsthal for his next project. The drama unfolds in a single act of rare vocal and orchestral power.
The title role is demanding even by the composer's daunting standards: Once Elektra takes the stage near the beginning of the opera, she does not leave, portraying a wide spectrum of emotions and singing over an enormous orchestra throughout the course of the work.
Munich-born Richard Strauss (18641949) composed an impressive body of orchestral works and songs before turning to opera. After two early failures, the 1905 premiere of Salome caused a theatrical sensation, and the balance of his long career was largely dedicated to music for the stage.
Elektra marks his first collaboration with Hugo von Hofmannsthal (18741929), with whom he developed a partnership that became one of the most remarkable in operatic history. Hofmannsthal emerged as an author and poet within the fervent intellectual atmosphere of Vienna at the turn of the last century.
The orchestra for Elektra is often cited as the largest for any repertory opera. It includes eight clarinets, four French horns, four Wagner tubas, seven trumpets, two harps, a huge body of strings, and a substantial percussion section. The score encompasses an astonishing range of musical color: there are moments of sublime lyricism when the characters express tenderness or love, and there is brutal, harsh dissonance when they are at (or beyond) the bounds of sanity.
Elektra premiered at the Met in 1932, with Artur Bodanzky conducting and Gertrude Kappel in the title role.
Of the current production, The Financial Times raved " the great Nina Stemme sang with unflagging power, with volcanic compulsion in passages of desperation, with shimmering gentility in passages of reflection. She paced, pranced and stumbled with fierce freedom, exuding passion even in repose. She also summoned compelling fervour that engaged everyone around her."
The New York Times observed, "The director Patrice Chreau's production of Strauss's Elektra has already been deemed a landmark of contemporary opera staging Nothing prepared me for the seething intensity, psychological insight and sheer theatrical inventiveness of this production Ms. Pieczonka's rich, clear voice conveys Chrysothemis's affecting vulnerability. Yet in moments of frustration and despair, her singing has bright, piercing power The bass-baritone Eric Owens is a deeply sympathetic Orest his rich, muscular voice is suffused with suffering..."
Soprano Rene Fleming hosts the broadcast.
Elektrawas originally seen live in movie theaters on April 30 as part of the groundbreaking The Met: Live in HD series, which transmits live performances to more than 2,000 movie theaters and performing arts centers in over 70 countries around the world. The Live in HD series has reached a record-breaking 20 million viewers since its inception in 2006.
GREAT PERFORMANCES at the Metis a presentation ofTHIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET, one of America's most prolific and respected public media providers.
Corporate support for GREAT PERFORMANCES at the Metis provided by Toll Brothers, America's luxury home builder. Major funding for the Met Opera presentation is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. This GREAT PERFORMANCES presentation is funded by the Irene Diamond Fund, the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Arts Fund, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, The Agnes Varis Trust, and public television viewers.
For the Met, Gary Halvorson directs the telecast. Jay David Saks is Music Producer. Mia Bongiovanni and Elena Park are Supervising Producers, and Louisa Briccetti and Victoria Warivonchik are Producers. Peter Gelb is Executive Producer. For Great Performances, Bill O'Donnell is Series Producer; David Horn is Executive Producer.
Visit GREAT PERFORMANCES online at www.pbs.org/gperf for additional information on this and other GREAT PERFORMANCES programs.
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WNET is America's flagship PBS station and parent company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21. WNET also operates NJTV, the statewide public media network in New Jersey. Through its broadcast channels, three cable services (KidsThirteen, Create and World) and online streaming sites, WNET brings quality arts, education and public affairs programming to more than five million viewers each week. WNET produces and presents such acclaimed PBS series as Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, PBS NewsHour Weekend, Charlie Rose and a range of documentaries, children's programs, and local news and cultural offerings. WNET's groundbreaking series for children and young adults include Get the Math, Oh Noah! and Cyberchase as well as Mission US, the award-winning interactive history game. WNET highlights the tri-state's unique culture and diverse communities through NYC-ARTS, Reel 13, NJTV News with Mary Alice Williams and MetroFocus, the daily multi-platform news magazine focusing on the New York region. In addition, WNET produces online-only programming including the award-winning series about gender identity, First Person, and an intergenerational look at tech and pop culture, The Chatterbox with Kevin and Grandma Lill. In 2015, THIRTEEN launched Passport, an online streaming service which allows members to see new and archival THIRTEEN and PBS programming anytime, anywhere: www.thirteen.org/passport.
About the Met THE METROPOLITAN OPERAis America's leading performing arts organization and a vibrant home for the world's most creative and talented artists, including singers, conductors, composers, orchestra musicians, stage directors, designers, visual artists, choreographers, and dancers. The company presents more than 200 performances each season of a wide variety of operas, ranging from early masterpieces to contemporary works. In recent years, the Met has launched many initiatives designed to make opera more accessible, most prominently the Live in HD series of cinema transmissions, which dramatically expands the Met audience by allowing select performances to be seen in more than 2,000 theaters in 70 countries around the world.
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Photo credit: Marty Sohl, Metropolitan Opera.
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