Concrete Playground

This year there's a great opportunity to compare the low with the high brow at the Sydney Festival. While Dublin's Pan Pan thrusts the mother-loving king into the 21st century, acclaimed US director Peter Sellars will team with Portugeuse conductor Joana Carneiro to present Igor Stravinsky's tragic opera, Oedipus Rex.

Joining the growing list of involved nationalities, this epic tragedy features a striking set design by Ethiopian artist Elias Sime, the Sydney Symphony and Philharmonia Choir and an Australian cast that includes the brilliant Paula Arundell. Obviously such a multicultural production will be performed in that great, still relevant lingua franca known as the Latin language.


Image by Gary Friedman