Sinéad Campbell Wallace on Salome: "It shows how extreme and modern opera can be"

Highly controversial when it first premiered, Richard Strauss’s Salome has lost none of that spectacular shock-factor over the subsequent 120 years or so. This March, Irish audiences can soak in all the thrilling action themselves, with a full production running at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin, and a special concert performance taking place at Wexford’s National Opera House – all presented in conjunction with Irish National Opera (INO).

Directed by Bruno Ravella – who also helmed INO’s acclaimed production of Der Rosenkavalier last year – Salome will star renowned Irish soprano Sinéad Campbell Wallace in the title role, fresh from her 2023 Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Opera.

Reflecting on the scale of the production, and the scale of its sound, Sinéad doesn’t hold back – describing Salome as “a mammoth of a piece.”

“It’s huge,” she resumes. “There’s over one hundred people in the orchestra, and a massive cast. It’s thunderous, from start to finish – an hour-and-a-half of almost heavy metal!”

Salome is a role Sinéad has wanted to take on for years, but, as she points out, “you have to be ready for it, emotionally, psychologically and vocally.”

“You just can’t underestimate what it’s going to take out of you,” she says. “It’s the most insane music to learn – and then to sing, because the range is just incredible. So doing this role has been hugely challenging – it definitely will be the biggest challenge of my career. But I’ve wanted to do it for so long, so I decided it’s time to take the plunge!”

Salome’s ‘Dance Of The Seven Veils’ (“Ten minutes of the most raucous, mad music you can imagine,” according to Sinéad) is one of the opera’s most famous moments. But like the rest of the work, it’s been the source of controversy, due to the sensual nature of the performance. As Sinéad reflects, Salome – which is based on the similarly scandalous play by Oscar Wilde – is a fascinating “exploration of female sexuality.”

“This girl wants the attention of John The Baptist, and he’s not having any of it,” she explains. “So she says, ‘Cut off his head, and bring it to me!’ The last 20 minutes or so of the opera is her singing to a decapitated John The Baptist, as if he’s still alive. So it’s very gory, and pretty grotesque, but it’s also an amazing spectacle.

“It will be interesting for a younger audience to see something as dark and haunting as this,” she adds. “Because it shows how extreme and modern opera can be. The INO have likened it to the series Succession, and it is a bit like that – edge-of-your-seat sort of stuff.”

For Sinéád, performing the music of Salome at the National Opera House will also be unforgettable in its own way.

“I’m a Wexford girl, so it will be lovely to be home,” she says. “This is a dream role for me – so to be singing it for the first time ever, in Wexford, will be very special.”

It’s the latest landmark moment in what’s already been a remarkable career for the dramatic soprano – who returned to opera in 2017, after stepping out of the spotlight to have her children, and teach full-time.

“It’s been fantastic,” she reflects. “I’ve done Fidelio and Tosca with INO – and Tosca was at the Bord Gáis Theatre, so it will be wonderful going back there with Salome. I also made my debut in Paris at the Bastille in 2023, and I’m making my American debut next season, in Washington. It’s all taken off like I never imagined...”

See Sinéad Campbell Wallace in Salome at Dublin’s Bord Gáis Energy on March 12, 14 & 16 – and the Concert Performance at Wexford’s National Opera House on March 3.