Through fire and water with Anja Bihlmaier

Passionate music by Richard Strauss, cooling waves by Debussy and a brand-new piece from Outi Tarkiainen. Star conductor Anja Bihlmaier is known for filling orchestras and audiences alike with enthusiasm.

Strauss’ one-act opera is based on a dreadful family history in which the family members melt away like butter in the sun. It is the tale of Elektra’s mad vindictiveness. The orchestra plays all the lead roles in this orchestral version of the fiery drama. Connoisseurs assert that the music is adequate fuel for the audience’s imagination: the drama is in the music. The opera was completed in 1909 and Manfred Honeck’s orchestral version arrived almost 100 years later. Bihlmaier is the right person for the job presenting this piece, the skilled opera conductor she is.

Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen touched the hearts of Gothenburg’s audience in February 2024 in the concert Nordic – A Fragile Hope, about the vulnerability of Nordic nature. Her newly composed Rapids of Life is about motherhood and the beginning of life.