Salome
by Richard Strauss

Richard Strauss’s revolutionary score and scandalous Oscar Wilde–inspired drama took the world by storm at its premiere and continues to wow audiences today. Catherine Naglestad makes her Met debut in the tour-de-force role of Salome, part innocent and part sexual predator. Željko Lučić is her prophetic nemesis Jochanaan, John the Baptist.

The story of this incendiary and powerful opera is derived from a brief biblical account: a young princess of Judea dances for her stepfather Herod and chooses as her reward the head of the prophet John the Baptist.

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), the Irish novelist, poet, and playwright, was one of the defining characters of the Victorian era. Strauss used a German translation of Wilde’s play by author and poet Hedwig Lachmann (1865–1918).

The action takes place outside the palace of King Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, in the early first century AD. The present production places the scene in a non-specific contemporary setting.

Conductor:
Johannes Debus

Cast:

Salome: Catherine Naglestad

Herodias: Nancy Fabiola Herrera

Herod: Gerhard Siegel

Narraboth: Kang Wang

Jochanaan: Željko Lučić

Start time: 10:00 AM on Capital Public Radio.
Approximate running time 1 hr 38 min