Deeply moved by Oscar Wilde’s play, Richard Strauss changed the course of music history with his intense, frantic eponymous opera. The set is King Herod’s Palace; young Salome is infatuated and rejected by Prophet Jochanaan, and, desperate to kiss him at all costs, subsequently asks for his severed head. The expressionist libretto drawn from this mysterious plot is both sensuous and dramatic. As an object – and mostly a subject – of desire, Salome’s magnetic quality is gradually unveiled. The piece, written at the turn of the 20th century, reads like a discovery of the subconscious mind or an exploration of urges. The hypnotic score is replete with unique colours and sounds; Strauss pushed the very limits of music in his time, at the risk of breaking the norms. The lead must be sung by a mesmerising performer, both in terms of voice and presence. After being acclaimed in The Woman Without a Shadow, Irrelohe and Wozzeck, Ambur Braid embodies a strikingly ardent Salome in a production directed by internationally acclaimed artist Calixto Bieito and conducted by Constantin Trinks.