Suggested age guidance 12+.
Herod is keeping the prophet Jochanaan imprisoned. When Herodias’s daughter Salome hears Jochanaan preach about the Son of Man, her curiosity is piqued and she is overcome by a strange emotion. Not long after, she wants Jochanaan brought to her.
Exploiting Narraboth’s infatuation, Salome gets to meet Jochanaan. She is immediately charmed and her curiosity soon turns into lust. Salome eventually wants to kiss Jochanaan, but the prophet rejects her advances.
Herod pleads Salome to dance. In return he promises her anything she wants. Salome agrees to perform the Dance of the Seven Veils and, once finished, reveals the reward of her choice: Jochanaan’s head on a silver platter. Herod is horrified by her request, but in the end Salome gets what she was promised.
You can read the full synopsis and other background information in the programme leaflet.
When director Christof Loy debuted at the Finnish National Opera with Tosca in 2018, his production was acclaimed by critics and the audience alike. Now the award-winning director has made an equally ravishing interpretation of Salome.
”Richard Strauss’s life and work reflect a special understanding and affinity for complex female characters. The opera is typical of its time in the way it explores sexual traumatas. Now, more than a hundred years later, it’s time to seek new angles to the story.
My aim was to set Salome free from the Lolita-like clichee of the girlish femme fatale of the fin de siècle, and to rather see in her a ‘dove that has strayed’, as Narraboth describes her. She takes us on a journey that questions gender and sexuality, initially dressed as a young man, maybe to protect herself, maybe in jest. Oscar Wilde meets Virginia Woolf.”
Choose your favourite refreshments from this season’s tasty menu. You can easily add refreshments to your shopping basket while selecting tickets in our online store.
Please note that this performance has no intermission. The services of the Opera Restaurant are available before performance.
Please note that we cannot guarantee a specific table for orders made via the online store. We may also seat several parties at the same table. You may be assigned a bar height table for enjoying refreshments standing up.
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