Opéra de Paris

Salome

In Cinemas 25, 26 Feb & 1 Mar 2023
Conductor
Simone Young
Orchestra
Orchestre de l’Opéra national de Paris
Cast
Elza van den Heever (Salome), Iain Paterson (Jochanaan), Zoran Todorovich (Herodes), Karita Mattila (Herodias), Tansel Akzeybek (Narraboth)
Composer
Richard Strauss
Director
Lydia Steier
Set Design
Momme Hinrichs
Duration
2h02
Sung in German, with English subtitles
Captured live from Opéra Bastille, Paris, 27 Oct 2022
Official Event Listing
  • Steier’s hardcore #metoo-ish staging, focused on the act of desiring itself rather than on representing desirable objects or persons, brings back some of the discomfort that Wilde, and Strauss and Lachmann’s, “Salome” might have aimed for in 1905.
    João Marcos Copertino, OPERAWIRE
    Would a Salome that doesn’t shock still be a Salome? The play has lost nothing of its disturbing force, which Lydia Steier exploits to the end. Elza van den Heever is a dazzling heroine.
    Christian Merlin, LE FIGARO

Opera in one act (1905)

New Production! Based on Oscar Wilde’s scandalous play of the same name, Strauss’ masterpiece ensured his status as Wagner’s successor.

Salome (soprano Elza van den Heever), Princess of Judea, finds palace life dreary. Her curiosity is roused when she hears the voice of Jochanaan (Iain Paterson), a prophet held prisoner by her stepfather, King Herod (Zoran Todorovich), who is afraid of him. Obsessed by this enigmatic and virtuous man, Salome is ready to do anything to possess him, dead or alive...

“Dance for me, Salome”. From Herod’s lubricious injunction to the young woman stems one of the most emblematic orchestral passages in opera: 'The Dance of the Seven Veils'. A hypnotic interlude in itself sufficient to capture the fatal mounting desire that suffuses this work whose orchestration is as rich as it is modern.

A dazzling hour and forty minutes in which, for her debut at the Paris Opera, American director Lydia Steier conjures up the work’s decadent essence and Simone Young, the current Chief Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, guides the Paris Opera orchestra through Strauss's dynamic score.

Opéra de Paris guidance: Certain explicit scenes of a violent and sexual nature may upset sensitive audiences.

Opéra de Paris

Opéra de Paris is one of the world's greatest opera and ballet companies. Founded more than three centuries ago by Louis XIV, it now holds performances in two theatres, the Palais Garnier (1875) and the Opéra Bastille (1989). The company’s mission is to preserve and develop our operatic and ballet heritage and it gives more than 350 performances per year. Great composers such as Rameau, Gluck, Rossini, Verdi, Wagner, Gounod, Massenet, Poulenc and Messiaen all gave the first performances of their works here.

See more productions from: Opéra national de Paris