Massenet: Hérodiade

Many years before Richard Strauss composed his opera about Salome and John the Baptist, Jules Massenet had dealt with the same subject in “Hérodiade”. However, in Massenet’s opera, it is the vengeful Herodias, Salome’s mother, who demands the head of John the Baptist, not her naive, innocent daughter. The lyrical intimacy of the opera focuses on the characters’ innermost feelings in a way that had never been done before and was considered radical at the time. The leading roles are sung by Nicole Car, Clémentine Margaine, Matthew Polenzani, and Etienne Dupuis. Enrique Mazzola conducts the orchestra and choir of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. He is the music director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Deutsche Oper Berlin’s principal guest conductor. In 2022, he was appointed the first “Conductor in Residence” of the Bregenz Festival.