Stage director Krzysztof Warlikowski offers a happy ending, he hints, to Richard Strauss’ monumental tragedy Elektra at the Salzburg Festival, streamed live at its premiere on August 1 from the Felsenreitscchule at 5 PM Central European Time.
The premiere of anything in this pandemic summer is a special feat. That it is a Krzysztof Warlikowski production of Elektra makes it all the more newsworthy.
It can be found on mezzo.tv/en at 5 PM in Salzburg and Paris. "Arte Concert" at arte.tv/en delays its telecast until 8:30 PM (thus 7:30 PM in London, 2:30 PM in New York, and 11:30 AM in San Francisco).
Conductor Franz Weiser-Möst describes Warlikowski’s Elektra, sung by Ausrine Stundyte, as fragile, child-like and vulnerable, noting that stage director Walikowski’s Elektra has forged delicate relationships to her sister Chrysothemis, sung by Asmik Grigorian, and her brother Orest, sung by Derek Welton. It explores a mythic past that intertwines with a very human present.
Warlikowski’s world is lively and it is positive, Weiser-Möst’s heroine is both musically armored and penetrable, Von Hofmannsthal’s world is fully psycho-analytic within Richard Strauss’ searingly frigid orchestral display. The Felsenreitschule is one of the world’s most dynamic theatrical spaces.
For more information on the Felsenreitschule and its recent Strauss productions please see Two Summer Festivals That Can.
Michael Milenski
Elektra will be recorded by UNITEL in collaboration with ORF and broadcast as follows:
01 August, 5 pm | Live at the Siemens Festival>Nights
01 August, 5 pm | Live at a number of selected cinemas: www.salzburgimkino.de
01 August, 5 pm | Live on Mezzo
01 August, 8:30 pm | Live with a delay on ARTE Concert
10 August, 10:30 pm | ORF 2
14 August, 6 pm | Siemens Festival>Nights
15 August, 8:15 pm | 3sat