Shocking and Gruesome

RON BIERMAN reviews Richard Strauss' opera 'Salome'

Richard Strauss's eerie and perverse Salome is based on Oscar Wilde's play of the same name as adapted by librettist Hedwig Lachmann. Wilde was inspired by the Biblical tale of Princess Salome and John the Baptist, a prisoner of King Herod, her stepfather.

In every version of the story, Salome dances for Herod, and he is so pleased with her dancing that he offers her anything she desires. Influenced by her mother Herodias whose marriage to the king had been condemned by John the Baptist, Salome asks for John's head.

But it was Wilde who took the tale beyond creepy stepdad and royal corruption by turning Salome into a spoiled young girl infatuated with John the Baptist. When he doesn't yield to her clearly expressed desires, she needs little urging from her mother to demand his head on a platter.

San Diego Opera's latest production was yet another demonstration of its ability to attract some of the world's finest singers.

Online publicity for San Diego Opera's 2025 production of Salome

Soprano Kirsten Chambers seductively danced and sang the lead. Well known for the part, she received strong reviews when she sang it at the MET and, despite its exhausting demands, here she was performing it for a San Diego company with an annual budget far less than one percent of the MET's.

The role of Salome is unusually challenging. The one-act opera runs for around an hour and fifty minutes, and the soprano is seldom off the stage and rarely not singing while she is.

Does composer Richard Strauss take that into consideration? No! The part requires wide vocal and dynamic ranges, and though composed more than a century ago, the music is lyrically and harmonically modern sounding, full of clashing keys and melodies that take unexpected turns that make them more difficult to learn.

In a final sadistic move, Strauss calls for as many musicians as can be crammed into the orchestra pit and at times seems to encourage them to make sure no one can hear the soprano.

In this performance, that meant the San Diego Symphony musicians were near concert-hall size rather than the paired down number of most productions.

Fortunately, the Opera's permanent conductor Yves Abel struck the right balance, using the considerable forces at his disposal to revel in Strauss's lush orchestration, especially during the rapturous ten minutes of Salome's Dance of the Seven Veils. But when the singers were in the spotlight, he throttled back just enough to become more of an equal partner.

Yves Abel, principal conductor at San Diego Opera

Even so, in her quiet opening scene, Chambers was singing softly while toward the back of the Civic Center's acoustically imperfect stage and for a short time was barely audible. That's a shame for any length of time, since she has a glistening golden voice to go with substantial range and strength.

Baritone Kyle Albertson as John the Baptist (Jochanaan) is also on the MET's roster and was equally capable of competing with the composer's orchestration. Albertson commanded the stage with a powerful voice, masterful as a devout believer and stoic in his unrelenting dismissal of Salome's flattery and inviting beauty.

Kyle Albertson as John the Baptist (left) with Chris Getsla, Hubert Pilloud and DeAndre Simmons in Richard Strauss' Salome at San Diego Opera.
Photo © 2025 Karli Cadel

Tenor Dennis Petersen (Herod) is a versatile actor with a pleasing voice. But director Jose Maria Condemi, perhaps looking for a bit of light relief from a gruesome story, opted for the weak, easily manipulated caricature of an old man infatuated by youthful beauty and dominated by his wife Herodias (soprano Nina Warren).

From left to right: Nina Warren as Herodias, Kirsten Chambers as Salome and Dennis Petersen as Herod in Richard Strauss' Salome at San Diego Opera.
Photo © 2025 Karli Cadel

Warren, equally versatile, sang and acted well, but again as a caricature, this time the shrewish wife in a sitcom rather than the imperious wife of a tyrant.

The shocking and gruesome climactic scene worked as Strauss and Lachmann no doubt intended.

The entitled Salome whirls John the Baptist's head around in ecstatic triumph, blood running down her cheeks and onto her dress as she finally kisses the lips he'd been unwilling to yield.

The reviewed performance of Salome took place on 22 March 2025 at San Diego Civic Theatre in San Diego, California, USA. Because the demanding title role requires a day to rest the voice, soprano Marcy Stonikas sang Salome on 21 and 23 March 2025.

San Diego Opera's next production is Verdi's La traviata, 25-27 April 2025. Further information and tickets at sdopera.org

The background image on this page is a serrated red circle on a grey background, by Keith Bramich.

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