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Elektra

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Kvinne med øks i blått lys foran hus Photo: Adam Olsson

Trauma, tragedy, thriller and triumph

In a rundown family home on the outskirts of Oslo, a horrific revenge killing takes place. Richard Strauss’ passionate music meets Ole Anders Tandberg’s new version of the old tale about Elektra.

Elektra worships her dead father and dreams about her brother returning home and killing their mother. Welcome to a proper family drama – in which a dream becomes a brutal and bloody reality.

Richard Strauss wrote this short and intense opera in 1909, not long after Freud published his books on the subconscious, trauma and sexuality. It fell like a bombshell in the music scene and continues to rattle us to this very day.

The text was written by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, a dominant voice in German Expressionism in the 20th century. Although it is a rewrite of Sophocles' classic Greek tragedy, Hofmannsthal’s Elektra is utterly unique.

Music on a grand scale

Powerful voices take the stage: a huge, wild animal of an orchestra takes over the pit, under the direction of Petr Popelka.

Elektra is loaded with high-voltage music that packs a punch and can only be experienced to the fullest in an opera house.

Tandberg returns

Director Ole Anders Tandberg has been successful on both theatre and opera stages. In recent years, he has won the Hedda Award for ‘Best Direction’ with Havboka and received brilliant reviews for The Coronation of Poppaea, Rigoletto and Lady Macbeth from Mtsensk with the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet.

Tandberg and his artistic team often set the story in a familiar place. Elektra unfolds in a house you have probably seen – it’s the one you walk past a little faster on your way home or on a late winter night ...

  • Free introduction one hour before the performance (in Norwegian)

Artistic team and cast

Her kan du se fullstendig rolleliste:

Rolleliste Elektra 10. februar.pdf

  • Music
    Richard Strauss
  • Libretto
    Hugo von Hofmannsthal
  • Conductor
    Petr Popelka
  • Director
    Ole Anders Tandberg
  • Set design
    Erlend Birkeland
  • Costumes
    Maria Geber
  • Lighting design
    Clement Irbil
  • Participants
    Opera Chorus, Opera Orchestra
    • Elektra
        • 21. Jan 2023 18:00
        • 24. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 1. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 4. Feb 2023 18:00
        • 7. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2023 19:00
    • Klytaimnestra
        • 21. Jan 2023 18:00
        • 24. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 1. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 4. Feb 2023 18:00
        • 7. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2023 19:00
    • Krysotemis
        • 21. Jan 2023 18:00
        • 24. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 1. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 4. Feb 2023 18:00
        • 7. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2023 19:00
    • Aigistos
        • 21. Jan 2023 18:00
        • 24. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 1. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 4. Feb 2023 18:00
        • 7. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2023 19:00
    • Orestes
        • 21. Jan 2023 18:00
        • 24. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 1. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 4. Feb 2023 18:00
        • 7. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2023 19:00
    • Orestes’ ledsager
        • 21. Jan 2023 18:00
        • 24. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 1. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 4. Feb 2023 18:00
        • 7. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2023 19:00
    • Den fortrolige / Oppsynsdamen
        • 21. Jan 2023 18:00
        • 24. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 1. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 4. Feb 2023 18:00
        • 10. Feb 2023 19:00
      • Juhee Kang
        • 7. Feb 2023 19:00
    • En ung tjener
        • 21. Jan 2023 18:00
        • 24. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 1. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 4. Feb 2023 18:00
        • 7. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2023 19:00
    • En gammel tjener
        • 21. Jan 2023 18:00
        • 24. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 1. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 4. Feb 2023 18:00
        • 7. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2023 19:00
    • 1. tjenestepike
        • 21. Jan 2023 18:00
        • 24. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 4. Feb 2023 18:00
        • 10. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 1. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 7. Feb 2023 19:00
    • 2. tjenestepike
        • 21. Jan 2023 18:00
        • 24. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 1. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 4. Feb 2023 18:00
        • 7. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2023 19:00
    • 3. tjenestepike
        • 21. Jan 2023 18:00
        • 24. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 1. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 4. Feb 2023 18:00
        • 7. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2023 19:00
    • 4. tjenestepike / Slepbærer
        • 21. Jan 2023 18:00
        • 24. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 7. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 1. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 4. Feb 2023 18:00
    • 5. tjenestepike
        • 21. Jan 2023 18:00
        • 24. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 27. Jan 2023 19:00
        • 1. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 4. Feb 2023 18:00
        • 7. Feb 2023 19:00
        • 10. Feb 2023 19:00

Synopsis

Elektra is obsessed with the thought of avenging her murdered father, Agamemnon, who was murdered by his wife, Klytämnestra, and her lover, Aegisth.

But Elektra has to await the return of her brother, Orest, he is the one who shall kill their mother. He was removed as a child after the murder of his father.

The maids taunt and jeer at Elektra, who is forced to live as an outcast and alone. The only one to remain loyal to her is the youngest.

Elektra invokes the ghost of her dead father and conjures up the image of his murder before her mind’s eye. She has a vision of the day on which she and her siblings will have their bloody revenge.

Her sister, Chrysothemis, warns Elektra that their mother, Klytämnestra, is planning to have her locked up. Chrysothemis, who longs passionately for love and a life of fulfillment, is afraid that she might meet a similar fate. She blames her sister for the situation in which they both find themselves.

Klytämnestra is tortured by nightmares in which Orest appears to avenge his father. She asks her daughter how she can get peace, and Elektra tells her there is a sacrifice that will set her free from her nightmares. The mother asks hopefully who has to be murdered, and Elektra answers that Klytämnestra herself has to die. Just after Elektra has explained her plans for revenge, the news of Orest’s death is announced. Klytämnestra laughs at her daughter scornfully and disappears.

Elektra is now determined to carry out her plan for revenge on Klytämnestra and Aegisth with the sole help of Chrysothemis, who refuses to become involved.

A stranger appears, claiming that he is the messenger who has come to inform of Orest’s death. When Elektra curses the messenger and announces who she is, the messenger reveals himself as Orest. He has come to avenge their father, Agamemnon. Before Elektra can hand him the axe, which she wants to be the murder weapon, he is called to appear before Klytämnestra. Her scream of the dying gives Elektra the satisfaction she has been waiting for.

Aegisth now returns. Elektra greets him with feigned friendliness and accompanies Aegisth into the house, where Orest awaits him.

Chrysothemis comes to tell her what Orest has done inside the house. Elektra celebrates and dances until she falls over, dead.