ElektraIngela Brimberg as Elektra
Richard Strauss · First performed Dresden, 1909
Strauss's one-act tragedy of revenge, and one of the most demanding roles in the dramatic soprano repertoire.
The opera
Richard Strauss's one-act opera sets Hugo von Hofmannsthal's version of the Greek tragedy by Sophocles. Years after King Agamemnon was murdered by his wife Klytämnestra and her lover Aegisth, his daughter Elektra lives as an outcast in the palace courtyard, waiting for her brother Orest to return and avenge their father.
Her gentler sister Chrysothemis longs only for an ordinary life, and their mother, tormented by nightmares, comes to Elektra for a cure. When news arrives that Orest is dead, Elektra resolves to act alone, until a stranger at the gate turns out to be Orest himself. He kills Klytämnestra and Aegisth, and Elektra dances in triumph until she collapses.
Ingela Brimberg as Elektra
Elektra is on stage for almost the whole of the opera's nearly two hours, and the part asks for both the power to ride Strauss's huge orchestra and the tenderness of the recognition scene. Ingela Brimberg first sang it in 2014 and has since performed it in opera houses and concert halls across Europe; she has also sung Chrysothemis, under Esa-Pekka Salonen at the Verbier Festival in 2017.
Reviews
“the Elektra of Ingela Brimberg (making her UK debut) was magnificent … in an amazing characterisation of magnificent stamina.”“Brimberg tackled the formidable title role with poise, grit and stamina, capturing Elektra’s obsessive, consuming grief and rage with intensity.”“Sie füllt lange Phrasen leuchtend und unangestrengt … Brimberg ist eine Meisterin der Zwischentöne und der musikalischen Expression psychischer Gefährdung.”She fills long phrases radiantly and without strain … Brimberg is a mistress of nuance and of the musical expression of psychological peril.