Cleveland Orchestra Elektra @ Severance Hall 5/20 MURDER! MURDER! IT WAS A BLOOD BATH; oh relax it was just a performance of Elektra. But relaxing was hard to do last Thursday as the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Franz Welser-Most gave an electrifying performance of Richard Strauss’s opera Elektra with libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. This was a concert performance with the vocalist performing on a platform above the orchestra. But, with the use of some subtle acting and dramatic lighting the opera became a powerful visual experience too.

The cast of singers was quite large for this one act, one and three quarter hour long opera. The cast included the Cleveland debut of Lisa Gasteen; she performed the roll of Elektra. Ms. Gasteen stepped on stage minutes into the opera and gave an amazing performance which did not end until the final scene where she waltzes herself to death. Franz Welser-Most once again proved that if you put a vocalist on stage he rises to the occasion. He was completely locked into the opera giving an even and breathtaking performance from the wild orchestral cries of Agamemnon at the beginning to the deathly dance of Elektra at the conclusion. He even paused at the conclusion of the opera, dropping his head into his hands, which must have been part exhaustion and part amazement. As the much appreciative audience exited out the front of Severance Hall you could see the blood flowing down the steps, across East Boulevard and into Wade lagoon. from Cool Cleveland contributor Brian Schriefer briancpa@msn.com (:divend:)