Organization

Admin

Haymarket Opera

Conductor

Craig Trompeter

Singer

Fleur Barron

San Giovanni Battista

Christian Pursell

Erode

Eric Ferring

Confidente D’erode

Erica Schuller

Erodiade

Kristin Knutson

Salome

Instrumentalist

Jeri-Lou Zike

Violin I

Martin Davids

Violin II

Elizabeth Hagen

Viola

Jerry Fuller

Violone

Andrew Rosenblum

Harpsichord

Nigel North

Theorbo

Anne Bach

Oboe

Sally Jackson

Bassoon

La decollazione di San Giovanni Battista

Chicago

United States

Holtschneider Performance Center (DePaul University)

La decollazione di San Giovanni Battista Grimani

Public

Samrat Sen

Approved

Haymarket presents Maria Margherita Grimani’s 1715 oratorio La decollazione di San Giovanni Battista. At the feast of Herod, the beautiful princess Salome requests the head of John the Baptist as a punishment for insulting her mother Herodias. Haymarket’s virtuosic vocal and instrumental soloists bring Grimani’s feverish tale of bloodthirsty revenge to life in the work’s modern premiere. 


The head of Saint John the Baptist by Giovan Francesco Maineri (1502)

Hailed as “a knockout performer” by The Times, Singaporean-British mezzo Fleur Barron brings her burnished voice to her Haymarket debut in the title role of the martyred Saint John the Baptist. Also in their company debuts, Haymarket welcomes bass-baritone Christian Pursell as Herod, the king who is reluctant to execute John the Baptist, and Eric Ferring as the savage confidant who pushes for the saint’s brutal execution. Radiant sopranos Erica Schuller and Kristen Knutson return to Haymarket as the scorned mother and daughter out for blood.

Haymarket founder and artistic director Craig Trompeter leads a chamber ensemble of strings, woodwinds, and continuo drawn from Haymarket’s acclaimed orchestra of period instruments. Lute legend Nigel North returns for this performance. 

Maria Margherita Grimani’s life is shrouded in mystery, but her few surviving works pulse with passionate melodies and virtuosic dramatic vigor. 


The head of Saint John the Baptist presented to Salome by Peter Paul Rubens (1609)

Synopsis: During the celebratory feast of Herod, Saint John the Baptist reviles Herod and his second wife Herodias for their sinful marriage and calls them back to a righteous path. The beautiful princess Salome, daughter of Herodias, dances seductively for her stepfather. When he offers her any gift in his kingdom as a prize for her dancing, she requests that the head of Saint John be brought to her on a silver charger. Herod reluctantly orders the execution of Saint John who rejoices defiantly in his coming martyrdom.

English

La decollazione di San Giovanni Battista by Grimani, From (2024/2024), Conductor Craig Trompeter, Holtschneider Performance Center (DePaul University), Chicago, United States

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