Opera Scotland

Oedipus Rex in Scotland

Posted 2 Aug 2024

Oedipus Rex was first presented in Scotland on 21 August 1956 by the Hamburg State Opera during its second Edinburgh Festival visit. The second element of the double bill was Stravinsky's farcical comedy Mavra.

The staging by the great German director Günther Rennert was conducted by Leopold Ludwig, with a cast of prominent international soloists. These included Helmut Melchert (Oedipus), Maria von Ilosvay (Jocasta), James Pease (Creon) and Arnold van Mill (Tiresias).

More recent performances at the Festival include an Usher Hall staging in 1982. paired with Stravinsky's Soldier's Tale. The Toronto Symphony with its chief conductor Andrew Davis was joined by the Edinburgh Festival Chorus. The British soloists included Robert Tear in the title role, with Alfreda Hodgson in a rare operatic role as Jocasta.  Anthony Michaels-Moore doubled Creon and Messenger, with Stafford Dean as Tiresias. The Speaker was a great English actor, John Neville, long resident in Canada as director of the Shakespeare Festival at Stratford, Ontario.

More recently, the Canadian Opera Company brought a highly dramatic staging to the Playhouse in 2002, in a now regular pairing with Duke Bluebeard's Castle (Bartók). Canadian tenor Michael Schade was Oedipus with the great Polish contralto Eva Podles as Jocasta. Other cast members included baritone Peteris Eglitis and bass Robert Pomenkov. The conductor and director were Richard Bradshaw and François Girard.

The first staging by a British opera company was by Sadler's Wells Opera in London in 1960, when a highly-regarded recording was made. This famous production by Michel St Denis was later seen in Edinburgh during the company's final Scottish tour in 1972, when it was conducted by Charles Mackerras and John Barker, partnered with the Bartók. The title role was taken by Adrian de Peyer and Jocasta by Katherine Pring. The two baritone parts were sung by Raimund Herincx with Robert Lloyd (Tiresias) and Conrad Phillips (Speaker).

Scottish Opera's first production was given at Glasgow Theatre Royal on 23 March 1989 in an unusual double-bill with Scottish Ballet's presentation of Petrushka. Graeme Jenkins conducted both items and the opera was directed and designed by Stefanos Lazaridis. The great English Wagnerian tenor Alberto Remedios, who sang the Shepherd in that Sadler's Wells recording, now took on the title role. Other cast members included Anne-Marie Owens as Jocasta, New Zealand baritone Rodney Macann doubling the baritone parts and John Tranter as Tiresias.

This staging was revived in 1990, now in tandem with Duke Bluebeard's Castle, and was seen in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Liverpool. John Treleaven sang Oedipus with Nicholas Folwell and David Gwynne also joining the ensemble. Anne-Marie Owens returned as Jocasta, with Robert O'Mahoney as Speaker, while a new conductor, Vakhtang Matchavariani, led.