Head to the opera
The Newport Performing Arts Center will live-stream Strauss’ fascinating opera, “Salome” on the big screen this Saturday, May 17, giving Oregon Coast audiences the chance to watch the Metropolitan Opera performance from nearly 3,000 miles away.
This will be the first new Met production of “Salome” in more than 20 years. It will also mark a Met debut for director Claus Guth, who leads a production that explores societal tension and modern psychological themes, drawing inspiration from Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut.” Soprano Elza van den Heever in the title role and baritone Peter Mattei as Jochanaan reunite on the Met stage following their acclaimed performances in Berg’s “Wozzeck” in the 2019-20 season.
The story is derived from a brief biblical account: A young princess of Judea dances for her stepfather Herod and chooses as her reward the head of the prophet John the Baptist. The action was written to take place outside the palace of King Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, in the early first century C.E. This staging updates the action to the Victorian era.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Met’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, conducts the one-act tragedy for his first time at the Met. Mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung is Herodias, alongside tenor Gerhard Siegel as Herod. Tenor Piotr Buszewski, following his 2023 Met debut in Poulenc’s “Dialogues des Carmélites,” is Narraboth. The creative team includes set designer Etienne Pluss, costume designer Ursula Kudrna, lighting designer Olaf Freese, choreographer Sommer Ulrickson and dramaturg Yvonne Gebauer, all making their company debut. The projection design is by rocafilm/Roland Horvath.
This presentation is part of the Met’s award-winning “Live in HD” series, which brings world-class opera to screens across the globe with better-than-front-row angles and glorious sound.
Saturday’s screening will start at 10 am at the Newport Performing Arts Center, 777 W Olive Street. The performance has a run-time of roughly two hours and will be sung in German with English subtitles. Tickets, $12-$28, are available by calling 541-265-2782 or online at coastarts.org.