R. Strauss' ELEKTRA Returns to Canadian Opera Company

Richard Strauss' twisted psychodrama, Elektra, returns to the COC stage with commanding star soprano Christine Goerke in the title role. Rooted in classic Greek tragedy, the one-act opera is an expressionist take on the ultimate tale of family dysfunction: Elektra's lust to avenge her father's murder at the hands of her mother and her mother's lover. Fury and obsession spiral into horrific consequence as Elektra careens down a path of total destruction, all set to an unrelenting modern score. Elektra runs for seven performances on January 26, 31, February 6, 10, 12, 16, 22, 2019.

American director James Robinson (The Elixir of Love, 2017; Nixon in China, 2011) revives this bloody saga, last presented at the COC in 2007. Set designer Derek McLane's work on the production earned him a Dora Mavor Moore Award for the stark aesthetic that mirrors characters' raw emotions and impulses. Costume designer Anita Stewart and lighting designer Mimi Jordan Sherin add to the nightmarish world onstage with lurid colours and design elements influenced by the art of Francis Bacon, Edvard Munch and Robert Motherwell.

Central to the cast is the incomparable Christine Goerke, who shook the Metropolitan Opera with "the thrilling power of her voice" (New York Times) as their Elektra last season. Canadian soprano Erin Wall is Elektra's sister, Chrysothemis; she returns to the COC after a "sublime" (Chicago Tribune) performance in Idomeneo. British dramatic soprano Susan Bullock brings her "formidable focus and power" (Financial Times) to the role of Elektra's conniving mother, Klytämnestra, while German bass Wilhelm Schwinghammer makes his COC debut as her brother, Orest. Canadian tenor Michael Schade rounds out the cast, bringing his "crystal-clean intonation" and "even, forward-placed legato" (OperaWire) to Klytämnestra's lover - and conspirator - Aegisth.

Strauss' frenetically charged score forms the backbone of the opera, pressing the action forward to its grisly end and COC Music Director Johannes Debus leads the COC Orchestra in rising to the challenge. All performances of Elektra feature the COC Chorus, led by Price Family Chorus Master Sandra Horst

Elektra is sung in German and presented by the COC with English SURTITLES.

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