The stunning and scandalous Salome returns to the Royal Opera.

Even after a century, Strauss’s opera still has the power to shock as well as enthral. Angela Denoke takes the demanding role of Salome, the young woman obsessed by John the Baptist: if the religious prophet she desired had refused her kiss in life, his severed head will not be able to refuse her lips in death.

On stage the story of Salome has provoked scandal not least in Oscar Wilde’s play, upon which Strauss based his opera. Violence and nudity are inevitably part of its nature and are also part of this production.

The potent combination of sex and religion led director David McVicar to an inspired exploration of its hypnotically degenerate central character, and Es Devlin’s art-deco-inspired designs evoke physical and moral decay in a grand setting.

Salome is sung in German with English surtitles.

Learn more about London operas within the West End.