Opera Scotland

Oedipus Rex 2024Scottish Opera

Read more about the opera Oedipus Rex

Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex has appeared several times at the Edinburgh Festival and has also been staged in Scotland by both Scottish Opera and Sadler's Wells.  In spite of being sung in Latin, it always makes a powerful effect on audiences.  Now that what used to be the standard classics are less part of popular culture than used to be the case, the Festival programme contaned a warning that it - ''contains themes of incest, murder, suicide and self-harm''.  It was clearly one of the hottest tickets in town.

This event was a co-production by Scottish Opera and the Festival.  It was certainly very different from previous performances, if only because of the venue - the beautiful space of the National Museum of Scotland in Chambers Street, with its magnificent galleries.  A community chorus of 100 voices was also a first for the Festival.