Opera Review: Death From Above

The Philadelphia Orchestra and Opera Philadelphia team up for Salome.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Depravity: Salome (Camilla Nylund) with the head of Jokanaan (Alan Held)
at the climax of Salome at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.
Photo by  Dominic M. Mercier © 2014 Opera Philadelphia/The Philadelphia Orchestra

In a year celebrating the 150th birthday of Richard Strauss, the most exciting concert event of the spring season was the premiere last night of Salome in Philadelphia. Strauss' opera was presented in a new semi-stage production by Kevin Newbury. This was a first-time collaboration between Opera Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Orchestra's music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. With an imaginative staging and an all-star cast, this was a riveting performance that explored this blood-drenched opera in great and sometimes uncomfortable depths.