But this production reveals better than any I have seen the wild-eyed Elektra’s subliminal fears and strange impotence, qualities that come through with terrifying intensity in Ms. (Vincent Huguet is credited as stage director.)Įlektra is consumed with carrying out vengeance upon her mother and Aegisth for murdering her father. Salonen, who honors his colleague by drawing a performance of uncanny transparency and simmering fervor from the Met orchestra, which sounded inspired. Chéreau died at 68 a few months after his “Elektra” opened at Aix. Salonen, who made overdue company debuts in 2009 with a harrowing production of Janacek’s “From the House of the Dead.” But Mr. The Met’s presentation was to have been a second joint engagement for Mr. A superb cast is headed by the smoldering soprano Nina Stemme in the title role. Chéreau’s partner in this venture from the start. Still, nothing prepared me for the seething intensity, psychological insight and sheer theatrical inventiveness of this production on Thursday night, conducted by the brilliant Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mr. A DVD of that “Elektra,” filmed at the festival, was released the following year. But the director Patrice Chéreau’s production of Strauss’s “Elektra,” which opened at the Met on Thursday night, has already been deemed a landmark of contemporary opera staging.Ī collaborative venture by several companies, it was introduced to acclaim at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in France in 2013. The prospect of a premiere production at the Metropolitan Opera typically generates advance speculation and high hopes among fans.

Elektra met opera