David McVicar’s revival production of Richard Strauss’ hyper-sensuous and erotic opera shocker Salome, about Herod’s stepdaughter and biblical femme fatale. It opened at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in July 2010.

It is based on a German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Famed for its ‘Dance of the Seven Veils’ and the final scene when she declares her love to – and kisses the severed head of – John the Baptist. It shocked opera audiences from its first performance in 1905, and was actually banned in London by the Lord Chamberlain’s office until 1907.

German soprano Angela Denoke played the title role. She is a regular at all the world’s major opera companies – Berlin, London, Paris, Chicago, New York, Vienna and San Francisco, being named Singer of the Year in 1999 by the magazine ‘Openweldt’.