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. Claus Guth, one of Europe’s leading opera directors, gives the biblical story—already filtered through the beautiful and strange imagination of Oscar Wilde’s play—a psychologically perceptive, Victorian-era setting rich in symbolism and subtle shades of darkness and light. From the opening measure, Strauss’s score announces itself as exotic, iconoclastic, and thoroughly compelling.

Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts his first Met performance, and headlining the new staging is soprano Elza van den Heever as the abused and unhinged antiheroine, who demands the head of Jochanaan, sung by celebrated baritone Peter Mattei. Tenor Gerhard Siegel is Salome’s lecherous stepfather, King Herod, with mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung as his wife, Herodias, and tenor Piotr Buszewski as Narraboth.

Language: German
Run Time: 2 hrs., 15 min., with no intermission
Tickets: $30 General Public | $24 Members | $15 Students
To purchase tickets at the student price, call 315-797-0055.

Cinema Series Sponsor: Elizabeth R. Lemieux, PhD.