Brutal Herod's a terror for tenor; cinema/theatre.

Byline: By DAVID POWELL

YOU might have thought tenor Peter Hoare was getting a less bloodthirsty role when told he was playing the son of King Herod in The Bible - Herod senior, of course, had young boys murdered to try to stop baby Jesus escaping.

But in the opera Salome the younger Herod still orders the beheading of John the Baptist and kills his stepdaughter, from which the opera takes its title.

Peter says: "It's pretty gory. I play a corpulent, hedonistic but deeply superstitious man. He's pretty evil. He listens to the prophet John the Baptist but, in listening to him, Herod keeps his own dark side at bay for a time."

Herod lusts after his own stepdaughter Salome, and she dances the infamous dance of the seven veils to arouse him.

He promises her up to half his kingdom. But as John had earlier rejected Salome's wish for a kiss, she instead calls for his head on a silver platter. Herod ultimately agrees.

That's the grim tale at the heart of the Welsh National Opera production of the 1905 German-language Richard Strauss epic, based on Oscar Wilde's take on the biblical story of Salome.

Bradford-born Peter says: "It's extraordinarily difficult to learn this music because there's a complicated harmonic and rhythmic structure to his work. Within a bar you can have four different harmonies at the same time and three or four time signatures for the various people. But it is thoroughly rewarding. I'm in it for about two thirds of it.

"It's fantastic music, which is very Wagnerian. It's wonderful and terrifying at the same time."

As for coming to North Wales he says: "I've been there many times and it's fantastic. A surprising number of young people come to the theatre there and not just to see opera."

And, after all that lust and violence, you'd think married Hoare needs to relax off stage.

He says he does so by keeping in touch with his operatic and other friends on Internet websites.

As he says: "I've just spent an hour on Facebook."

Peter Hoare performs in Salome, Venue Cymru, Llandudno, Wednesday, March 18, 8pm. Ring 01492 872000 to buy pounds 9-pounds 40 tickets.

German with English and Welsh surtitles

CAPTION(S):

Peter Hoare (pictured in an earlier Welsh National Opera production) will take the key role of Herod when the WNO bring Richard Strauss' epic opera Salome to Llandudno's Venue Cymru in March