Oscar Wilde seized on this biblical story in the 1890s, and a few years after his death, Richard Strauss transformed the text into an intense opera that reaches its gruesome climax in one single act.

For Strauss, it was not the shocking story that appealed, but the opportunity to make explosive and passionate music. He goes straight to the disturbing and violent feelings of the characters: Herod snarls and his wife Herodia's miseries, while Princess Salome sings uninhibited and sensual, in an unparalleled sound world. The oriental-sounding orchestral passage "The dance of the seven veils" is one of the highlights of the opera, before the deep strings of the double basses warn ominously about something falling heavily to the floor...

Lloyd Wood is in charge of this unique scenic concert which opens the Bergen International Festival in 2020 in a co-production with Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Bergen National Opera. Lithuanian soprano Ausrine Stundyte, a renowned Salome at the opera stages of Berlin, Bologna and Vienna, sings the title role along with distinguished artists giving their debut Bergen performances.

Presented by Bergen National Opera, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Bergen International Festival.

Richard Strauss / Music
R. Strauss and Hedwig Lachmann, based on Oscar Wildes play Salomé / Libretto

Edward Gardner / Conductor
Lloyd Wood / Director
Cathrine Ahlsen / Costume design

Ausrine Stundyte / Salome
Johan Reuter / Jochanaan (John the Baptist)
Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke / Herod
Linda Watson / Herodias
Stuart Jackson / Narraboth
Hanna Hipp / The Page of Herodias
Michael Müller-Kasztelan / First Jew
Petter Moen / Second Jew
John Olsen / Third Jew
James Kryshak / Fourth Jew
Callum Thorpe / Fifth Jew
James Creswell / First Nazarene
Ole Marius Ryan / Second Nazarene
Igor Bakan / First soldier
Tapani Plathan / Second soldier
James Berry / A Cappadocian
Rita Therese Ziem / A slave

Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

An opera in one act / Staged concert
Sung in German, surtitles in Norwegian and English
Duration: approx. 1 hour and 50 minutes. No interval.