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In Tauris, today’s Crimea, Thoas, king of the Scythians, reigns. Because he has been foretold to die by the hand of a stranger, every stranger who enters the land is sacrificed. Iphigeneia, who has been living in Tauris for fifteen years, is charged with carrying out the death sentences. If two of her compatriots land on Tauris, she will have to kill them too. They are her brother Orestes and his cousin and friend Pylades. Without revealing his identity, Orestes tells her that her mother Clytemnestra killed her father Agamemnon. In turn, Orestes avenged his father and killed Clytemnestra. At the behest of the god Apollo, Orestes sails to the Black Sea with his friend Pylades.
Iphigeneia manages to let Pylades escape. Just before she has to kill Orestes, she recognizes him as her brother. King Thoas sees a conspiracy in this and wants to kill them. This is prevented in time by Pylades who arrives with a Greek army and kills Thoas. At that moment the goddess Artemis appears. She declares that the gods have been reconciled and that Iphigeneia and Orestes can return to their homeland.
Iphigénie en Tauride is a co-production with Welsh National Opera.