2007/2008 Season Opera

Richard Strauss :SALOME

OPERA HOUSE

Salome	:	Natalia Ushakova
Herodes	:	Wolfgang Schmidt
Herodias	:	Koyama Yumi
Johanaan	:	John Wegner
Naraboth	:	Mizuguchi Satoshi
Ein Page der Herodias	:	Yamashita Makiko
5 Juden 1	:	Nakajima Katsuhiko
5 Juden 2	:	Fuse Masaya
5 Juden 3	:	Matsuura Ken
5 Juden 4	:	Onuki Iwao
5 Juden 5	:	Osawa Ken
2 Nazarener 1	:	Aoto Satoru
2 Nazarener 2	:	Aoyagi Motoharu
2 Soldaten 1	:	Otsuka Hiroaki
2 Soldaten 2	:	Saiki Kenji
Ein Cappadocier	:	Fujiyama Hitoshi
Ein Sklave	:	Suzuki Manami
Orchestra	:	Tokyo Symphony Orchestra

February 2008	3	6	9	11
	Sun	Wed	Sat	Mon
2:00	X		X	X
7:30		X

Doors will open 45 minutes before the opening of the performance.

	S	A	B	C	D	Z
Price(yen)	21,000	15,750	10,500	6,300	3,150	1,500

A masterpiece by Richard Strauss, one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century, based on the play by Oscar Wilde. It continues to startle audiences throughout the world with the scene in which Salome kisses the severed head of Johanaan, and with its rich, bold, and tensely dramatic score. This is a masterful production by the Bavarian State Opera (with staging by the late August Everding), which creates an atmosphere of uncanny power with a set whose centerpiece is a massive, ancient stone well. The notoriously difficult role of Salome, who must be able not only to sing and act but also dance seductively, is to be performed by Natalia Ushakova, who has won high praise for her persuasive voice, and who will be joined by a cast of other powerful vocalists.

The setting is King Herod’s palace in Jerusalem around 30 A.D. Salome, daughter-in-law of Herod, who wins his favor, takes interest in Johanaan (John the Baptist), who is imprisoned in the cistern in the courtyard, and orders Naraboth, captain of the guard, to bring him out for her to see him. She tries to make advances to him, but he repels them and accuses her mother Herodias for the sins she has committed and is taken back to the cistern. Asked by Herod to dance on condition that he will grant her whatever she desires, Salome puts on seven veils over her naked body and dances a bewitching dance. After her Dance of the Seven Veils, she demands the head of Johanaan.