Offstage & Assistant Conductor - Bregenzer Festpiele: Oedipe

King Laïos of Thebes is haunted by a terrible curse. The Oracle of Delphi predicted that his firstborn would kill him and marry his own mother Jocasta. Out of fear, Laïos commands a shepherd to kill the child right after its birth. But fate has other plans: Œdipe survives and grows up as the son of King Polybos and Queen Merope in Corinth. They never tell him about his origins. As a teenager, however, Œdipe finds out about the portentous prophecy. He leaves his alleged parents to flee his fate. On the way to Thebes, where he defeats the Sphinx, Œdipe starts an argument with a stranger and beats him to death. Celebrated as an anonymous hero, he is crowned the new king and marries the widowed Queen. What he does not know: The man he killed was his father and the woman he marries is his mother, Jocasta. This heinous…