Salzburg Festival: Salome

Debuting in the title role, Asmik Grigorian propelled herself to international soprano stardom, stunning critics and audience alike with her endlessly powerful voice and mesmerizing acting abilities. To witness Franz Welser-Möst at the helm of the Wiener Philharmoniker “makes you think you are hearing the piece in its most perfect incarnation yet” Financial Times). By closing up the famous arcades of the Felsenreitschule, shaped out of the rock of the Mönchsberg, the award-winning Italian director set the stage for his visually compelling take on Salome.

Strauss’s work, created in 1903 when the composer set an abridged German translation of Oscar Wilde’s bible-based play Salomé to music, caused a scandal when premiered in Dresden in 1905 and was even banned from the stages of London, Vienna and New York. Due to her infatuation with the imprisoned prophet Jochanaan, the figure of the princess Salome had become the epitome of perverted lust.