Patrice Chéreau‘s Elektra brims with ideas beyond its eschewing of the opera’s standard, hysterical trappings.
Patrice Chéreau, the humanist in provocateur’s clothing, returned to Wagner in 2007 at La Scala with Daniel Barenboim and Waltraud Meier.
“I will never sing the role again. It was frightful. We were a set of madwomen…There is nothing beyond Elektra. We have lived and reached the furthest boundaries in dramatic writing for the voice with Wagner. But Richard Strauss goes beyond him. His singing voices are lost. We have come to a full stop.”
After five flops in a row, Mr. McVicar continues to win new assignments from the Met.
None of my previous Elektra experiences prepared me for this stunning, overwhelming performance from the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.
The celebrated opera director and filmmaker died today of lung cancer in Paris. He was 68.
The winners of the ninth annual F. Paul Driscoll Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence (or, as they are colloquially known, the “Opera News Awards”) have been revealed.
When people talk about an opera “production,” they tend to mean “the sets and costumes,” that is, the physical production.
What seems to be the European opera event of the summer, Elektra from the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, will be webcast just a little over 48 hours from now, starting at 2:00 PM EDT on Friday.
The team that made the Met’s 2009 production of From the House of the Dead one of the undisputed highlights of the Peter Gelb era will return five years from now to create a Richard Strauss tragedy. According to Helsingin Sanomat, director Patrice Chéreau and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen will collaborate on a new production of…
The Met’s new production of Janacek’s From the House of the Dead sets high standards for the company, but as an indicator of the Gelb Era, it may be too good to be true.
Tell us: What was the best of 2025?
Parterre Box concludes the thrilling first year of Talk of the Town by inviting your lightning rod opinions on several more categories of operatic argumentation.
