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The Hamburg State Opera (Staatsoper Hamburg) hosted the premiere of Dmitri Tcherniakov’s new production of Richard Strauss’s Salome on October 29.

Lithuanian-Armenian soprano Asmik Grigorian shined in the title role of Salome in the performance, according to many reviews of the production.

“Ever since her explosive debut in the role five years ago in Salzburg, Asmik Grigorian has claimed her place as her own,” FT reported. “She is wounded and furious, alone and full of longing; she hurls plates and glasses against the wall; she is a time bomb. She sings with every fibre of her being, pushes herself to her outer limits — which have grown in expressive scope and substance over the past half-decade.”

“Though Grigorian eclipses everyone onstage, the cast is uniformly strong,” it added.

Strauss based his opera on the one-act play written by Oscar Wilde in 1884. Salome debuted in early December 1905 in Dresden, Germany.