Elektra

Strauss’s shattering operatic depiction of the final days of the mythic House of Atreus, Elektra is one of the repertoire’s most exhilarating—and unsettling—masterpieces. In this performance, James Levine takes the podium to lead a blistering performance headlined by soprano Gabriele Schnaut as the deranged title princess, wracked with grief over the death of her father, King Agamemnon. Alongside her, the cast also features soprano Deborah Voigt as her long-suffering sister, Chrysothemis, and mezzo-soprano Hanna Schwarz as her mother and rival, Queen Klytämnestra. Bass René Pape is her brother, Orest, who returns to avenge their father’s murder, with tenor Siegfried Jerusalem rounding out the principal cast as Klytämnestra’s lover, Aegisth.