The beheading of Saint John the Baptist

An oratorio by Maria Margherita Grimani

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. 

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.