Michael Hendrick with his radiant tenor plays Herod’s instinctive desire and, later, the horror of Salome’s handling of Johanaan’s head, superbly.

The new production of Richard Strauss’ work hits the nerve of the Wuppertal opera audience.

Wuppertal. It is a cold, neutral, concave surface on which the musical drama “Salome” by Richard Strauss takes place. There is a black hole in it that devours everything. There are stairs on both sides of the stage.

The full moon shines brightly above everything, with wafts of mist drifting by. That’s it. No stage depth, no frills. The new production in the Wuppertal Opera House by director and set designer Michiel Dijkema comes without any risks and is essentially limited to the direction of people at the front of the ramp.

The costumes created by Tatjana Ivschina go well with this: traditional Jewish and page boy outfits, medieval-looking guard uniforms, a glamor dress for Herodias, modern suits. So a colorful mix of different eras, which is supposed to symbolize the timeless material of this one-act play.

Since there isn’t much new to see, the focus is on the people, especially Cristina Baggio in the title role. With her soprano, which is confident and versatile in all registers, she embodies the enchanting, young, untouched Salome who is looking for true love and who will use any means to achieve this.

Choreographer Matthew Tusa turns her famous expressive dance, which was actually intended as a dance poem, a painting of the soul, into a spectacle that exposes the lust for power, the decadence of the court and the incestuous lust of the king.

A powerful warning from the black hole

Thomas Gazheli is an extremely powerful-voiced Jokanaan and shines with intense warning calls from the black hole. Michael Hendrick, with his radiant tenor, plays Herod’s instinctive desires and later the horror of Salome’s handling of Jokanaan’s head with great aplomb.

Dubravka Muovi’s dramatic mezzo-soprano is ideally suited to the role of Herodias, impressively reflecting her ruined relationship with her husband and frustration with Salome’s behavior. The tenor of Emilio Pons as Narraboth is a little weak, but clear in expression.

With a few exceptions, the smaller parts also have adequate vocals. However, it is very unusual that in a German-language opera the surtitles often have to be used because the text cannot be understood by the women’s voices.

Since Wuppertal has to find a new general music director, there are six Salome premieres. A conductor is scheduled to conduct a rehearsal for each performance until the summer break.

First up was Finn Ari Rasilainen, who reliably guided the well-trained Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra through the demanding and sometimes tricky score. The opera fans in the auditorium, which was not sold out, enjoyed the performance, which was reflected in extensive applause.

http://www.wz-newsline.de/lokales/wuppertal/kultur/salome-premiere-1-ist-gelungen-1.1914900

Hartmut Sassenhausen

Westdeutsche Zeitung (WZ) [North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany]