STRAUSS : SALOME

Radio New Zealand Concert Network
Sunday 22nd of January 2017 at 6 - 8.10

INTRODUCTION
LIBRETTO (German)
STRAUSS: Salome, an opera in one act
Salome.............................. Patrica Racette
Herodias........................... Nancy Fabiola Herrera
Herod............................... Gerhard Siegel
Narraboth......................... Kang Wang
Jochanaan......................... Željko Lučić
Metropolitan Opera Orch/Johannes Debus
This is an opera that came to Wellington (NZ) as part of an arts festival, and Helen and I went to see and hear and feel it.
I am surprised that it was not in my list already; but this is a brief introduction for the occasion of the broadcast.
The name Salomé comes from the s-l-m root that gives us salaam in Arabic and shalom in Hebrew, basically meaning 'peace'! No peace for John the Baptizer, until his head is severed, and delivered on a platter to Herodias; and he probably did not feel Salomé's kiss on his lips, which drives her crazy, and King Herod is appalled and orders that she should be put to death immediately, crushed by the shields of his guards.
I would guess that Patricia herself does the dance of the seven veils, instead of standing back and watching a stand-in do the strip-tease ballet. But it is beyond our range of vision, via radio without pictures.