Organization

Singer

Tenor

William Burden

Oedipus

Mezzo-soprano

Rehanna Thelwell

Jocasta

Bass-baritone

Mark S. Doss

Creon

Bass

Jonathan Lemalu

Tiresias

Spoken

Charlotte Blake Alston

The narrator

Conductor

Corrado Rovaris

Ethan Burck

The shepherd

Soprano

Tiffany Townsend

soprano

Chorus master

Elizabeth Braden

The messenger

Opera Philadelphia

Others

Opera Philadelphia Chorus

Orchestra

Opera Philadelphia Orchestra

Latin

English

Oedipus Rex + Lilacs

Philadelphia

United States

Verizon Hall

Oedipus Rex + Lilacs: Oedipus rex (+1 More)

Public

Oedipus Rex

Lilacs

Approved

In order to serve the widest possible audience, we are now offering a free livestream of Friday's concert on the Opera Philadelphia Channel, starting at 8 p.m. Watch>>

Enter Thebes…a city in crisis whose denizens are looking to one man for salvation: Oedipus Rex. But how can this man save anything when he’s unknowingly cursed by the gods? Can he escape his dark fate?

The ancient Greek tragedy of the man who killed his father and married his mother is brought into the 20th century with a searing score by Igor Stravinsky in the opera-oratorio, Oedipus Rex. Jack Mulroney Music Director Corrado Rovaris leads the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra and Chorus, with soloists William Burden, Rehanna Thelwell, and Mark S. Doss.

Before watching Oedipus fall, reflect on the loss of other guiding stars with Lilacs, George Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning meditation on grief and remembrance. This rarely-performed piece is a setting of Whitman’s poem, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d,” written after Lincoln’s assassination. In Lilacs, Walker commemorates famed Black tenor Roland Hayes. Rising soprano Tiffany Townsend performs as the soloist.

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble