Oedipus Rex

The opening programme of Hannu Lintu's fourth season as Principal Conductor of the Orquestra Gulbenkian highlights Stravinsky's magnetic work Oedipus Rex. Based on the homonymous play by Sophocles, which recounts the tragedy of a man unable to escape the fate prophesied for him, the composer collaborated with Jean Cocteau in writing the libretto of the composition, which he defined as an "opera-oratorio", giving directions for it to be staged with minimal movements and the singers' faces hidden by masks. Photography © Jorge Carmona