The main event of this year's Salzburg Festival is supposed to be the new production of
Elektra, directed by
Nikolaus Lehnhoff and with our fave
Daniele Gatti conducting the
Vienna Philharmonic. I guess I'm not too much enthused as the show will take place at the
Grosses Festspielhaus, which will certainly dilute the impact of the music. To that add Lehnhoff, who's not exactly what I like the most in opera, although I appreciated his
Lohengrin,
Parsifal,
Tannhauser, and even
Tristan. All of these productions were important as they went a step beyond the conventional reading but the substance was somehow missing... Also important is the fact that Lehnhoff is appreciated by traditionalists so his productions prepared them to stomach more creative works such as those by Herheim, Warlikowski, Bieito, Kusej, and even those by Guth, or Carsen...
Theorin and Westbroek as Elektra and Chrysothemis [photo ©Baus]
The cast is the most appealing element of this Elektra:
Waltraud Meier (
Klytämnestra), Iréne Theorin (Elektra), Eva-Maria Westbroek (Chrysothemis), Robert Gambill (Aegisth), René Pape (Orest).
Good news is that there will be a radio broadcast of the show scheduled for August 21 at 19:30 (cet) on this link.
Ed: I don't know whether or not Norma with Joyce DiDonato as Adalgisa will be broadcast from Salzburg. If I find out anything in Salzburg I'll post it here.
I realize many people around me often misunderstand the directors' intentions in various productions of Elektra, and it's usually because they are not familiar with the background story of Electra and her fatherS. I hope you won't find this post too patronizing (please don't!), but rather helpful (?)
