Salome

Seattle Opera opens its 2026/27 season with Salome, running at McCaw Hall from October 17 through October 31. It's a big return for the company, which hasn't staged the work in more than two decades.

The opera is based on Oscar Wilde's play, with music by Richard Strauss and a libretto drawn from Hedwig Lachmann's translation. It's a biblical tragedy that's been shaking audiences since its 1905 premiere. The story follows Salome, the Judean princess and stepdaughter of tetrarch Herod Antipas, who becomes dangerously fixated on the imprisoned prophet John the Baptist. When he rejects her, she demands his head on a silver platter. It's a dark, psychological piece that doesn't pull its punches.

Brenda Rae takes the title role, with Chad Shelton as Herod, Michael Kupfer-Radecky as Jochanaan, Jennifer Johnson Cano as Herodias, and Joseph Tancredi as Narraboth. Benjamin Manis conducts and Bruno Ravella directs. The production is sung in German with English subtitles, and the sets are by award-winning designer Leslie Travers. It runs about an hour and 45 minutes without an intermission, so you're in for one continuous stretch rather than a split evening.

There are six performances in total. It opens Saturday, October 17, at 7:30 PM, followed by Friday, October 23, at 7:30 PM, and Sunday, October 25, with both a 2:00 PM matinee and a 7:30 PM evening show. The run closes with Wednesday, October 28, and Saturday, October 31, both at 7:30 PM.