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Strauss's Salome

Live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and starring Elza van den Heever as the Princess Salome and Peter Mattei as John the Baptist

Live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and starring Elza van den Heever as the Princess Salome and Peter Mattei as John the Baptist. Salome, based on Oscar Wilde's salacious reworking of the Biblical story, made Strauss's name as a major opera composer, not least because of the shock factor: when it reached the New York Met in 1907, two years after its première, the audience was so scandalised that it was promptly banned! It wasn't seen there again for 27 years.

Presented from the Met by Debra Lew Harder, with commentator Ira Siff.

Richard Strauss: Salome

Salome ..... Elza van den Heever (soprano)
Jochanaan (John the Baptist) ..... Peter Mattei (baritone)
King Herod ..... Gerhard Siegel (tenor)
Herodias, Salome's mother ..... Michelle DeYoung (mezzo-soprano)
Narraboth ..... Piotr Buszewski (tenor)
Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra
Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin

To listen on most smart speakers, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Opera on 3".

Release date:

2 hours, 14 minutes

On radio

Sat 17 May 2025 18:00

Broadcast

  • Sat 17 May 2025 18:00