Oedipe, Royal Opera House, review: 'A masterpiece'

Enescu's only opera, completed in 1936, finally arrives at Covent Garden in a magnificent co-production with La Monnaie first seen in Brussels in 2011. And what a masterpiece it is. Designed by Spanish-Catalan Alfons Flores and directed by Àlex Ollé, it opens with a tableau of 20 panels of sepia draped figures recalling a cathedral frontage where the Thebans celebrate the birth of a son to King Laïos and Queen Jocaste (memorably incarnated by Sarah Connolly), interrupted by the blind prophet Tirésias who predicts he will kill his father and marry his mother. Twenty years later, the abandoned Oedipus (a superb marathon sing by Danish bass-baritone Johan Reuter), learning of his destiny and believing himself to be the child of King Polybus and Queen Mérope flees.