JOCASTA'S LINE Stravinsky / Samy Moussa – Wayne McGregor – Norwegian Opera & Ballet

In Greek mythology, Jocasta is the daughter of Menoeceus and queen of Thebes. When she unwittingly marries the man who turns out to be her son Oedipus, an irreversible misfortune is passed on to the next generation. Jocasta's Line intertwines two Greek tragedies: Oedipus Rex and Antigone. Samy Moussa has composed music for Antigone, while Oedipus Rex is set to Igor Stravinsky's original score from 1927. 

In Oedipus Rex , Stravinsky's monumental opera-oratorio in Latin, the ancient city of Thebes is plagued by disease. The only way to end the suffering is to find and punish the person who murdered the former king. Under pressure from his desperate subjects, King Oedipus sets out to find the killer. Soon he discovers the horrifying truth: he is guilty of the murder himself and is also married to his own mother.  While Stravinsky's oratorio assigns a key role to the men’s chorus, Canadian composer Samy Moussa favours the women’s chorus in his new composition. His Antigone, sung in ancient Greek, centres on the tragedy of Oedipus' daughter. The renowned choreographer and director Sir Wayne McGregor’s new work requires the full forces of the Norwegian National Ballet, the Norwegian National Opera and the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra.  Wayne McGregor brings a poignant, modern language of movement to these classic tragedies.

Full performance streamed on OperaVision from 21 November 2025 at 19:00 CET to 21 May 2026 at 12:00 CET: https://operavision.eu/performance/jo...

CAST

Orchestra
Norwegian National Opera Orchestra

Chorus
Norwegian National Opera Chorus

Ballet
Norwegian National Ballet

Director
Wayne McGregor

Conductor
Charlotte Politi

Sets and costumes
Vicki Mortimer

Lights
Lucy Carter

Choreography
Wayne McGregor

Video
Akhila Krishnan

Part 1: Son 

King Oedipus
Paul Appleby

Jocasta
Dame Sarah Connolly

Creon
Michael Mofidian

Tiresias
Rafal Siwek

Messenger
Jens-Erik Aasbø

Shepherd
Magnus Staveland

Narrator
Ben Whishaw

Background music
Zoviet France: In.Version

Numen figures
Alberto Ballester
Mattias Ekholm
Dmytro Litvinov
Simon McNally
Mathias Tannæs
Marco Pagetti
Louka Do Vale
Giuseppe Ventura
Joakim Visnes
Kenji Wilkie

Tiresias’ Entourage
Martin Dauchez

Jocasta, Funeral
Gina Storm-Jensen

Antigone
Grete Borud Nybakken

Music
Igor Stravinsky

Text
Jean Cocteau

Part 2: Daughter

Dancers
Grete Borud Nybakken
Anaïs Touret
Melissa Hough
Hana Nonaka Aillon
Natasha Dale
Taeryeong Kim
Astrid Lyngstad
Tsukino Tanaka
Ricardo Castellanos
Douwe Dekkers
Vasilii Tkachenko
Martin Dauchez
Jonathan Olofsson
Dmytro Litvinov

Music
Samy Moussa

Text
Samy Moussa