Œdipe

Œdipe - Wajdi Mouawad

• Libretto

  Edmond Fleg

• Music

  Georges Enesco
  (1881-1955)

• Director

  Wajdi Mouawad

• Set design

  Emmanuel Clolus

• Costume design

  Emmanuelle Thomas

• Make-up, hairdressing

  Cécile Kretschmar

• Lighting

  Éric Champoux

• Video

  Stéphane Pougnand

• Dramaturgy

  Charlotte Farcet

In 1909, after attending a performance of Œdipus Rex at the Comédie-Française, George Enescu hastened to transcribe the first bars of his one and only opera. Sophocles’ play had the effect of an electroshock on the Romanian composer, spurring him to begin work on his score before he even had a libretto. The completed work would ultimately have its world premiere at the Paris Opera in 1936. The influences of his teacher Fauré, of Stravinsky, Debussy and Romania’s ancestral musical traditions all fuelled an orchestral and vocal composition of unparalleled originality. Surprisingly, despite receiving a rapturous reception, the work was rarely staged at opera houses during the 20th century. For his Paris Opera debut, Wajdi Mouawad evokes the life of Œdipus – the man unaware of his own identity – in a continuum of organic, vegetal, ethereal and aquatic images.

Orchestre et Choeurs de l’Opéra national de Paris
Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine / Choeur d’enfants de l’Opéra national de Paris

Œdipe has been filmed by director François Roussillon, as a coproduction by the Paris Opera and François Roussillon et Associés, with the support of the CNC and the Orange Foundation - sponsor of the audiovisual broadcastings at the Paris Opera. The performance will be broadcast live on October 14 at 7:30 pm on Medici.tv and on L'Opéra chez soi, the Paris Opera’s digital platform, and later on Mezzo Live HD Sunday 17 October 2021 at 9 pm.

Œdipe

Œdipe - Wajdi Mouawad

• Œdipe

  Christopher Maltman

• Tirésias

  Clive Bayley

• Créon

  Brian Mulligan

• Le berger

  Vincent Ordonneau

• Le grand prêtre

  Laurent Naouri

• Phorbas / Le Veilleur

  Nicolas Cavallier

• Thésée

  Adrian Timpau

• Laïos

  Yann Beuron

• Jocaste

  Ekaterina Gubanova

• La Sphinge

  Clémentine Margaine

• Antigone

  Anna-Sophie Neher

• Mérope

  Anne Sofie von Otter

• Une Thébaine

  Daniela Entcheva