Oedipus Rex / Antigone

In Oedipus Rex, Stravinsky’s imposing opera-oratorio in Latin, the city of Thebes is afflicted by the plague. The only way to end it is to find and punish the old king’s murderer. Under pressure from his desperate subjects, King Oedipus goes in search of the perpetrator and discovers the horrific truth – that he himself is the guilty man.

New composition by Samy Moussa

While Stravinsky’s oratorio assigns a key role to the male chorus, the Canadian composer Samy Moussa features the female chorus in his new composition. His Antigone, sung in Greek, deals with the tragedy of Oedipus’s daughter. Moussa’s lively, colourful sound palettes have previously been performed by the Wiener Philharmoniker and London Symphony Orchestra, among others. Conductor Erik Nielsen, a specialist in the modern and contemporary repertoire, will lead the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra in the premiere of Moussa’s major vocal composition.

Wayne McGregor

Wayne McGregor is a big name in the international world of dance and opera. Dutch National Ballet has previously performed his Chroma and Yugen to great acclaim. He has also directed various opera productions, including for the Royal Opera House in London (Dido and Aeneas and Acis and Galatea) and the English National Opera (Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice). His intense contemporary idiom of movement is a perfect match for the intense classical stories of Oedipus and Antigone.