St. Petersburg Opera Presents Operas L’elisir d’amore and Elektra in Moscow

The opera company from St. Petersburg will show two productions on the stage of the Helikon-Opera: the opera L’elisir d’amore by Gaetano Donizetti (November 6th) and the opera Elektra by Richard Strauss (November 7th).

L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love) is a comic opera that has been adored by people all over the world for over 150 years. It is called one of the brightest examples of bel canto. A light captivating plot, graceful virtuoso melodies, an ideal balance of touching and comic ensured this work a triumph. 

“The story of L’elisir d’amore may happen anywhere, since there is no certain time period or boundaries for love. I may be a dreamer, but I believe in beautiful fairy tales. They could have been several centuries ago, maybe even today. Love always comes unexpectedly, so one of the conventional modern cities became the scene of our performance, and its main characters are young modern boys and girls ...,” explains director, People’s Artist of Russia Yuri Alexandrov. 

Elektra is a tragedy about the sunset of an ancient civilization, but thanks to Strauss's bold, innovative musical language, the opera has turned into an exciting and lively musical drama, a vivid example of expressionism. 

“This is a great work but when I think about a new production, I always start from what worries me today, what I think is important and relevant... I feel that the time has come for this particular music, it is very close to nowadays’ life. The heartbreaking theme of murdering parents by children, isn’t that all around us? The newspapers are bleeding with such news… The collapse of family relations, when a son can raise his hand against his mother, a daughter can raise her hand against her father... Our performance will be as dramatic as possible – our life dictates this to us. My staging refers to the statement that violence breeds violence, blood gives birth to new blood, and in this sense, it has some deviations from existing productions. This story is terrible and it affects everyone who participates in it. There are two sisters in the plot of the play. One is Elektra, who is drunk with a feeling of revenge; and tries to pursue this goal. Her aim is to deal with her mother who betrayed husband and ruined him. And there is another girl –Chrysothemis, who is filled with light, the desire for love and suffers from the fact that she cannot find it. Two such different characters... However, blood and power, they are intoxicating, you cannot just brush them off. Everyone who gets into this atmosphere can no longer save oneself...,” says the director of the play, Yuri Alexandrov. 

Tickets available on the official website of the festival “To See the Music”.