30th Festival 2020

Fringe programme

Thursday, 05. November 2020 // 4.00 – ca. 6.15 p.m.

From 14 years
Free reservation tickets

Passage Kinos

(Free entry)


»Salome«

Film recording (from Theater an der Wien, 2020)

Opera by Richard Strauss



Marlis Petersen as Salome (Scenic photo Theater an der Wien)


Libretto (based on the drama of the same name by Oscar Wilde) and music: Richard Strauss

Reduced orchestral version: Eberhard Kloke

Musical conduction: Leo Hussain

ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien

Staging and puppet design: Nikolaus Habjan

Scenery: Julius Theodor Semmelmann

Costumes: Cedric Mpaka

Cast: Marlis Petersen (Salome), Johan Reuter (Jochanaan), John Daszak (Herod), Michaela Schuster (Herodias), Martin Mitterrutzner (Narraboth), among others

World première: 18.01.2020, Theater an der Wien // Duration: 110 minutes

With the kind support of the Theater an der Wien / Vereinigte Bühnen Wien GmbH, Landsmann+Landsmann Videoproduktion, Vienna, and Verlag Schott Music GmbH & Co. KG, Mainz

Introduction and discussion: Nikolaus Habjan, Vienna, and Ann-Elisabeth Wolff, Leipzig



The beautiful princess Salome, daughter of Herodias, is coveted by her stepfather Herod – but she is only interested in the prophet Jochanaan (John the Baptist), who is imprisoned by the court. Herod will fulfill all of Salome’s wishes, if she dances for him … and she demands Jochanaan’s head, in order to finally be able to kiss him.

With his opera »Salome«, Richard Strauss (1864-1949) created a masterpiece. It celebrated its première in Dresden in 1905 and is along with »Elektra« his most modern stage work. Nikolaus

Habjan gave the main characters Salome and Jochanaan each a puppet at their sides that remarkably expands the scope of possibilities.