Members of the Retirees Association traveled by chartered bus to the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh to see Salome, a one-act opera written by Richard Strauss. It’s the story of King Herod, his step-daughter Salome, and John the Baptist. The opera was originally censored in Vienna and banned in London. It includes the famous “Dance of the Seven Veils” and it is considered jaw-dropping.

If that wasn’t intriguing enough, Patricia Racette performed the title role in her Pittsburgh Opera debut. Racette is a Metropolitan Opera star soprano and recently received critical acclaim for her role as Salome.

We started with an opera talk on the bus. Byron Nelson, a retiree from the WVU English Department and the OLLI instructor for Opera as Drama, did a great job letting us know what to expect. The opera performance was exactly as he described and he didn’t spoil the ending at all. The staff at the Pittsburgh Opera treated us really well.

Byron summed up the opera on our way home. It was a pleasant bus ride and we got to see spectacular views of the supermoon. The group consensus was that it was a wonderful trip.