Sir Antonio Pappano conducts a concert performance of Strauss’ scandalous opera Salome, with the brilliant soprano Asmik Grigorian in the title role.

The Music

The story of Salome has fascinated artists, writer and painters for centuries. Richard Strauss’s version of this anti-heroine comes from a drama by Oscar Wilde. Both play and opera scandalised society, and even today the opera has a visceral power with its combination of lust, religion and disturbingly gory ‘love-song’, and its sensuous, shocking music.

The Performers

Star soprano Asmik Grigorian powerfully portrays the troubled Salome, while Sir Antonio Pappano and the LSO lean in to the drama of this astonishing work, in a concert performance that places the full spotlight on the music.

It is tumultuous. It is heroic, it is scandalous. It is a kaleidoscope of color and has these iconic characters. It’s a virtuoso vehicle for the orchestra, and I can’t wait to conduct it.
Sir Antonio Pappano, LSO Chief Conductor