Elektra - Opera in Concert
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
Cultural Centre Concert Hall
Reviewed: September 15
After last year's success with Richard Strauss' Salome, the Hong Kong Philharmonic started its new season with a concert version of Elektra, another one-act opera by Strauss. The first performance, on Thursday, was astounding, demonstrating the orchestra's progress under Edo de Waart's artistic directorship.
In the opera, adapted from Sophocles' tragedy, Elektra and her brother, Orest, avenge the murder of their father, Agamemnon, by their mother, Klytaemnestra, and her lover, Aegisth. It's a stark, innovative work. So bent on vengeance is Elektra that, on hearing of Klytaemnestra and Aegisth's deaths, she also dies, after an eerily euphoric dance, with music to match.