Three operatic Salomes dish on the punishing role, veil dancing and severed heads – San Diego Union-Tribune
Richard Strauss’s “Salome” has been described by opera singers, conductors, critics and fans as one of the world’s most thrilling, fast-paced and visceral works in the repertoire.
And yet, the 120-year-old modernist piece is rarely performed these days. According to the global performances database Operabase.com, “Salome” was produced around the globe fewer than 50 times last year. Compare that to the world’s most popular opera, Giuseppe Verdi’s “La traviata,” which was staged nearly 400 times in 2024.
So why is this one-act opera — which San Diego Opera is presenting in a three-performance run March 21-23 at the San Diego Civic Theatre — not staged more often?
We asked the three dramatic sopranos who are starring in San Diego Opera’s “Salome” for their thoughts on the masterwork. Kirsten Chambers and Marcy Stonikas are alternating performances in the title role, and Nina Warren plays Salome’s mother, Herodias.
All three have played the character of Salome multiple times — In Warren’s case, more than 100 performances — and they each describe it as one of their favorite roles. But they also talked about the role’s extreme vocal demands, the huge orchestra the opera requires and the added demand of performing Salome’s sexually charged, nine-minute dance of the seven veils.
“It is one of the most challenging roles you’ll ever do,” said Chambers, who will play Salome on March 22 (Stonikas plays Salome on March 21 and 23). “Vocally you have to have such great power and from top to bottom, and it’s a massive orchestra. The stamina you need is immense, the tessitura itself is immense … It’s a huge overall challenge.”
San Diego Opera last presented “Salome” in 2012. This month’s production will feature a vocal cast of 16 singers including bass-baritone Kyle Albertson as Jochanaan (John the Baptist) and tenor Dennis Petersen as Herod Antipas (King Herod). Jose Maria Condemi will direct the production and San Diego Opera resident conductor Yves Abel will lead the San Diego Symphony. The opera will be performed in German with projected supertitles in English and Spanish.
The 1905 opera, with a lush score by Strauss and German libretto by Hedwig Lachmann, was based on Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde’s 1891 French play “Salomé.” Both were loosely inspired by the New Testament stories of Herod’s relationship with his teenage stepdaughter, Salome.
When Herodias, is taunted by Jochanaan about the immorality of her marriage to Herod, she takes revenge on Jochanaan by pressuring her daughter, Salome, into a fatal temptation. When Herod begs Salome to dance for him, she agrees, but her price is Jochanaan’s head on a silver platter. She is delivered her prize, but Herod is so appalled by her behavior with the severed head that he orders her death.
One of the challenges of the Salome story has been its often-misogynistic depiction of Salome and her mother Herodias.
The story of Salome originated in the Bible’s New Testament and was later interpreted over many centuries in paintings, poems, books, plays and operas. Many early stories about Salome depicted her as an evil and manipulative temptress. More recent interpretations have portrayed her as an innocent victim of male desire, parental manipulation and psychological trauma.
Warren, Chambers and Stonikas have performed in, and seen, many different interpretations of the character Salome and each said the stage director can exert enormous influence on how audience comes to understand Salome’s actions. But all three singers said it’s important for them to bring their own ideas and stamp to the character.
Warren, who owns a home in Oceanside, said she has sung the role of Salome 130 times worldwide. Chambers has sung the role multiple times since 2016, including at New York’s Metropolitan Opera and Opera Hong Kong. And Stonikas has played the role of Salome three times, once in a concert version of Strauss’s opera and twice in opera composer Jules Massenet’s version of the Salome story, “Hérodiade.”
In a recent, wide-ranging Zoom interview, all three women talked about their experiences with the role, their love for the score, the challenges of veil dancing and some of the severed heads they’ve worked with over the years. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: Why do you love playing Salome?
Kirsten Chambers (Salome on March 22): When I play her, I can’t think about myself. I have to be completely in the moment. I love how consuming it is and how intense it is and how it challenges you. It’s such a scary part. Singing it makes me a stronger artist and a stronger person. The character is going through so much psychologically from one moment to the next. It’s a thriller, and you have to be there and be very real and vulnerable in an honest way.
Marcy Stonikas (Salome on March 21 and 23): I’ve sung (Strauss’s Salome) one time fully before and I’ve had the good fortune of singing the Massenet Salome twice. It’s a strange juxtaposition. The two Salomes are quite different. The singing is difficult but the thing about it is trying to make it feel easy and find an easy way to sing it. I’m thrilled by the music. I’ve always loved Strauss. He’s my favorite opera composer.
Q: How do you interpret Salome’s character psychologically?
Nina Warren (Herodias at all three performances): She is innocent. She has seen lewdness and horror all around her. Otherwise you don’t feel sorry for her. If she’s not depraved like everyone else, then it’s a tragedy. She’s been thrust into this world. Wilde made this story up. It’s the mom who wanted it, not Salome. It will be fun to play mom to you two (addressing Stonikas and Chambers). Salome is such a beast (of a role). The only thing I’d say is its great to have all the ideas about the role.
Stonikas: I see the character and myself as similar people. That is difficult to do in this one, but at the same time I remember the feeling of what it was like to be a tempestuous teenager. I remember the roller-coaster of emotions when I was finding myself.
Chambers: She is struggling with these things and is also a woman struggling with borderline personality disorder. She switches from idolizing Jochanaan to devaluing him.
Q: What are your thoughts on Strauss’s score for “Salome”?
Warren: For me, the orchestra is the main character. In many operas, they’re waiting to hear what what you’re going to say and Strauss anticipates what you’re feeling because there’s so much already in the music. I’ve never been in another opera where (the music) is main character. It’s like a beast that’s in there with you.
Chambers: Strauss was a fantastic composer who wrote very well for the soprano voice … your voice will soar over the orchestra.
Q: Salome’s dance for Herod has been interpreted in many ways, from a striptease to a demonic transformation. What are your experiences with the dance?
Chambers: I have a dance background, but I’m an opera singer, not a dancer. I did one production that was acrobatic with splits and backbends. But as a middle-aged woman I looked like a Dalmatian and then had to sing the final scene.
Warren: My favorite was a production where I put a spell on all the men, like Sissy Spacek in “Carrie.” They danced around me and then I decided to dance once Herod said what he wants. I found it very empowering.
Q: One of the required props for every “Salome” production is the severed head of John the Baptist. Do any of you ladies have any stories about the artificial heads you’ve worked with?
Warren: I did a performance in Italy and the head they gave me only weighed about 3 ounces. In my dressing room I cut open the head and we put rocks inside. A human head is very heavy and it’s really hard when you have the 10-minute scene with the head and you have to pantomime that the head is heavy. I had another one where the head came down on a hook but it fell off and I dove for it and caught it. Another one had me giving birth to the head.
Stonikas: I have a spare head. It’s my husband’s. He’s an actor and for one show, “The Lieutenant of Inishmore,” they had to do a mold of his head for a prop. The (theater) company sold the mold to a Halloween costume company so I went and bought it.
Q: San Diego Opera is one of many opera companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, that is now double-casting opera roles and shortening rehearsal periods to reduce production costs. What do you think of the changes?
Stonikas: A briefer rehearsal time means less time you’re on the road and away from home, so there’s some positivity from that. And maybe without the extra time, everyone is on their toes and willing to work fast and be tuned into the process. But it does put constraints on us as artists in terms of our process. Luckily we’ve all been in this show before and we can bring our past experiences with us.
Warren: I’m just thrilled to be returning (she last appeared with the company in 2007’s “Wozzeck”) and that San Diego Opera is still happening. I’m happy to have work. There’s not near as much work as there used to be, especially after the pandemic.
Q: For many ticket-buyers, this will be their first experience with “Salome.” What advice do you have for first-timers preparing to see the show?
Warren: You’ll get more out it (with) the more work you put in to it. Now it’s so easy. You can listen to little excerpts and get your ear used to it and you can read about Oscar Wilde and Strauss. Even if you don’t have time to prepare, come and keep and open mind.
Stonikas: This is a theatrical experience. If you enjoy that, you’ll have a wonderful time.
Chambers: It’s not an opera you’ll sleep through. It’s 90 minutes in real time and one of the most electrifying opera ever written. It’s beautiful and really unsettling. A real drama. It’s very clear what’s happening in every moment and all characters are larger than life. I think it has so many twists and turns and keeps you on your toes from beginning to end.
‘Salome’
When: 7: 30 p.m. March 21 and 22; 2 p.m. March 23
Where: San Diego Opera at the San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., downtown
Tickets: $45 – $339
Phone: 619-232-7636
Online: sdopera.org
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