Salome: Canadian Opera Company

About the Event

Famous for its shocking "Dance of the Seven Veils", Strauss' controversial opera Salome arrives at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. Audiences should prepare themselves for an unforgettable production from celebrated Canadian director Atom Egoyan.

This legendary biblical story is recounted in Oscar Wilde's play, from which Strauss adapted his opera. Salome, to the horror of her stepfather Herod – demands the head of John the Baptist in return for performing the Dance of the Seven Veils.

At the premiere in Dresden, the audience and critics were alarmed by its erotic themes. Voyeurism and sexual abuse still elicit an equally deep‐seated response today: “…this Salome is marvelously wicked and wickedly marvelous, which has always been the point of the work – both Oscar Wilde’s play and Richard Strauss’s operatic adaptation.” (The Globe and Mail)

Performed in German with English surtitles.

Conductor: Johannes Debus / Derek Bate (May 22)
Director: Atom Egoyan
Choreographer: Serge Bennathan
Set Designer: Derek McLane
Costume Designer: Catherine Zuber
Lighting Designer: Michael Whitfield
Projections Designer: Phillip Barker
Puppetry: Clea Minaker
Chorus Master: Sandra Horst

Salome: Erika Sunnegårdh
Jochanaan: Martin Gantner (Apr. 21, 27, May 1, 4)
Alan Held (May 7, 10, 16, 22)
Herod: Richard Margison
Herodias: Julia Luon
Narraboth: Nathaniel Peake
Page: Maya Lahyani

With the COC Orchestra