Claus Guth directs a tormented, harrowing new Salome at the Met

Elza van den Heever (Salome)

Elza van den Heever (Salome) and Peter Mattei (Jochanaan)

Gerhard Siegel (Herodes) and Elza van den Heever (Salome)

Elza van den Heever (Salome)

By Robert Levine, 04 May 2025

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“we are clearly in Freud’s neighborhood”

Reviewed at Lincoln Center: Metropolitan Opera House, New York City on 2 May 2025

Strauss R., Salome

Metropolitan Opera

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Conductor

Claus Guth, Director

Étienne Pluss, Set Designer

Ursula Kudrna, Costume Designer

Olaf Freese, Lighting Designer

The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra

rocafilm, Projection designer

Roland Horvath, Projection designer

Elza van den Heever, Salome

Michelle DeYoung, Herodias

Gerhard Siegel, Herodes

Peter Mattei, Jochanaan

Piotr Buszewski, Narraboth

Tamara Mumford, Herodias' Page

Bille Bruley, 1st Jew

Thomas J Capobianco, 2nd Jew

Alexander Boyer, 3rd Jew

Bernard Holcomb, 4th Jew

Robert Pomakov, 5th Jew

Le Bu, 1st Nazarene

Yeongtaek Yang, 2nd Nazarene

Harold Wilson, 1st Soldier

Richard Bernstein, 2nd Soldier

Jeongcheol Cha, Cappadocian

Sommer Ulrickson, Choreography

Asmik Grigorian strengthens the Met’s revival of Eugene Onegin

Susan Stempleski, 20th April

The Lithuanian soprano’s riveting performance as the central character in Tchaikovsky’s operatic masterpiece lights up Deborah Warner’s mostly bland production.

****1

Innocence: Saariaho’s final opera receives New York premiere

Kurt Gottschalk, 6th April

At the Metropolitan Opera, Innocence proves a gripping and perhaps divisive piece which feels real because it is a reflection of our reality, with no realistic hope of finding peace.

*****

Tristan und Isolde at the Met: staging gets in the way of the music

No’a L. bat Miri, 9th March

Michael Spyres shines in his debut as Tristan alongside powerhouse soprano Lise Davidsen as Isolde in Yuval Sharon's new, beguiling production at the Metropolitan Opera.

***11

Ailyn Pérez is the perfect Butterfly in the Met’s revival

Robert Levine, 13th January

Good Butterflys are not that difficult to come by but great ones are very very rare. Ailyn Pérez fits the bill in this revival of Anthony Minghella’s classic staging.

*****

Vocal thrills in Met’s traditional staging of Bellini’s I puritani

Susan Stempleski, 31st December

Marco Armiliato conducts a finely balanced rendition of Bellini's final masterpiece with a stellar cast headed by Lisette Oropesa and Lawrence Brownlee.

*****

Porgy and Bess returns stronger than ever at the Met

Robert Levine, 7th December

Back to Catfish Row for another revival of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess and James Robinson’s show continue to wow our writer.

*****

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Robert Levine

Robert T. Levine is a New York born-and-bred music writer with a particular interest in music for the voice. His work has appeared in many periodicals and newspapers. He is the author of many books, including The Story of the Orchestra, four volumes in the Black Dog & Leventhal Opera Library, and, most recently, Maria Callas: A Musical Biography.