Review Roundup: LA Opera's SALOME, Starring Patricia Racette

Plácido Domingo and LA Opera presents Richard Strauss's Salome, conducted by Music Director James Conlon. A revival of the production originally staged by Sir Peter Hall during the company's inaugural season, Salome stars soprano Patricia Racette in the title role, her fifth leading role in Los Angeles. Performances run February 18 through March 19.

Let's see what the critics had to say:

Mark Swed, LA Times: Racette's efficient Salome and Gabriele Schnaut's gleeful Herodias are, on the other hand, neither vulnerable nor unhinged. They are empowering... The athletic Racette leaped with ease onto the raised lip of the cistern to get a look at John. She mastered a dance with difficult steps, and she proudly removed all veils. Vocally too, Racette (after a period of warming up and a few not-yet-there low notes) remained in full command of an exhausting role.

Jim Farber, Los Angeles Daily News: Racette (a mature woman in her 50s) makes little attempt to hide the fact that her teenage years are well behind her. Her only concession is an occasional coquettish smile and a playful kicking of her toes. She relies on wielding her power vocally, particularly during her duets of infatuation with the imprisoned prophet, John the Baptist (Jochanaan, who is sung superbly by the resonant Icelandic baritone Tómas Tómasson), and during her climatic necropheliac aria delivered to his just-severed head. In those moments Racette's Salome is a force to be reckoned with.

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