Operatic Soprano Maria Ewing (1950–2022) Gives Richard Strauss’s Salome the Full Monty and Sings “Bali Ha’i” Exotically with The John Wilson Orchestra, Just for My Beloved Conductor, John Wilson
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There are 3 naked ladies on my blog. This is one of them.
“I’m not given to displays of emotion, but when Maria and I met up again [to record their Rodgers & Hammerstein album] we had tears in our eyes. She’s so exotic!” enthused my bonny conductor about this Detroit-born soprano. “I love her— as a person!” Yes, John. I’d love to hear more.
Above: Proudly nude Salome in the 1991 Covent Garden production of Richard Strauss’s 1905 opera directed by Ewing’s husband at the time, Sir Peter Hall. And here’s “Bali Ha’i” sung by soprano Maria Ewing in the compilation Rodgers & Hammerstein At the Movies, with The John Wilson Orchestra, conducted by John Wilson (Warners, 2011).
About the DVD recording of Salome, says Toronto opera blogger John Gilks, “…about what one would expect from a 1992 BBC TV broadcast… This is probably worth having a look at as a record of an iconic performance by Ewing but I can’t imagine anyone would choose it as the definitive Salome.”
© Cantara Christopher 2020
