“A magisterial fury in fuchsia, she delivered a visceral account of the final scene from Salome, running the gamut from implacable vengeance to unhinged lust. The voice was refulgent, her diction impressive …”
The Guardian
“Van den Heever’s shimmering high notes were ravishing — a sweetness that the murderous princess she was playing almost didn’t deserve — and, to the audience’s surprise, the singer returned for a surprise encore at the end of the night, a glamorous rendition of Strauss’s Zueignung.”
The Times
“Elza van den Heever’s Salome soars and The Met Orchestra glows in BBC Proms debuts … Van den Heever, another Proms debutant, sank her teeth into the text in a tremendous portrayal, quivering with anticipation, vehement, ecstatic. Her soprano cleaved through the heavy orchestration … There was plenty of acting – teasing one moment, animalistic the next – with a hollow growl on the word “Todes” (Death) … Van den Heever is a major artist, a regular at the Met. Lucky New York.”
Bachtrack
“A Strauss goddess descends … Stupendous Salome flames to the back of the hall … Accolades first for the deep sound in Strauss of The Met Orchestra, newcomers to the Proms, under its Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who has been in the Albert Hall ring many times, and for the flamethrowing Salome of Elza van den Heever … sitting closer to the back of the hall, it was amazing to hear the phenomenon of a rich, full voice serving a detailed dramatic characterisation, something we never give up hope for in a capricious colosseum …
Van den Heever has been acclaimed for her Met portrayal of the teenage princess who, desire thwarted, asks for John the Baptist’s head on a silver platter. Here she was in the zone from the start of the final scene, which YNS made sure started with the tension of awaiting the execution, those pinched high double-bass notes over low drum-roll which Strauss took from Berlioz’s Treatise on Instrumentation shocking a not-quite settled audience into stunned silence.
Severed head once produced, van den Heever traced it somewhere among the mushrooms hanging from the Albert Hall roof – definitely of the magic variety in vision accompanied by sound – before bringing it close to snarl and snap at its silenced tongue. Her gestures ran the gamut the music does, from imperious triumph to self-doubt and aching nostalgia. No top note failed to soar above the magnificent orchestra, however loud; we also heard the woodwind detail in the welter. The final act of consummation before Salome is crushed beneath the shields of Herod’s soldiers – the Tetrarch and his hideous consort, Salome’s mother Herodias, being necessarily absent here – had maximum impact.”
The Arts Desk
“Elza van den Heever seemed to own the title-role, emerging from the musical dissonance, eerie atmosphere, and heightened emotions as Salome the princess becomes more depraved as she savours the decapitated head of John the Baptist, enough to revolt Herod who orders the palace guards to crush her with their shields, orchestra supplying knockout punches.”
Colin’s Column