Outcast at the Gate

Featured video: with soprano Alexandra Batsios, bass Zachary Elmassian, and pianist Brent Funderburk, April 6, 2018 at the National Opera Center in New York.

ABOUT THE OPERA

Outcast at the Gate is a new opera by composer Joel Feigin that sets Sophocles’ final tragedy, Oedipus at Colonus. While the grand themes of fate, guilt, and redemption are  timeless, this intimate story of displaced and dispossessed people also strikes an unmistakable resonance with current global socio-economic tragedies. Following the story of the wandering Oedipus–haunted by fate and cast out by society–Feigin’s music weaves together the realms of gods and of men in a deeply moving work that is both larger than life and personal.

Key scenes from the opera were performed with voices and piano by the Center for Contemporary Opera, New York in 2019, and preliminary plans for a production of the chamber version are currently underway. In addition to the chamber version, Feigin will be releasing the full-orchestra version of the opera soon. The complete piano-vocal score is available for interested music directors and producers; please see the download page or contact the composer.

For Outcast at the Gate, Feigin has commissioned composer Brandon J. Rolle to collaborate  on creating a live electronics part to be included in both the chamber and orchestral versions. Incorporating psychoacoustic, electronic, and electro-acoustic techniques, the electronics amplify the drama of the music in ways both felt and heard. Early work on this collaboration was supported by an artist residency at Byrdcliffe Art Colony in New York. Feigin is also collaborating with actress Kalean Ung on the voice samples used in the prologue of the opera.

SYNOPSIS

The voices of the Furies are heard from every direction, telling of Oedipus, former king of Thebes, who has unknowingly killed his father and married his mother. After he uncovers his crime, Oedipus blinds himself and leaves, a blind beggar, supported by his daughter Antigone.

The action opens as the refugees approach the outskirts of Athens and find themselves in a verdant grove. A terrified stranger tells them to leave: the grove is sacred to the vengeful Furies. But Oedipus declares that he has found his final home—he will die miraculously at this spot, and he thanks the goddesses for the “great consummation” he knows is at hand.

The elders of the town arrive in search of the imposter and order Oedipus to leave. Antigone pleads for her father and Oedipus insists on his innocence: finally, the elders summon the king of Athens, Theseus, to decide their fate.  The remaining daughter of Oedipus, Ismene, arrives with disastrous news from Thebes: the old man’s younger son has exiled his brother Polynices, who is preparing to invade his homeland.  But the oracle has declared that Oedipus now has power over the fate of Thebes, and that all the combatants will ask for his aid. The chorus tells Oedipus that he must purify himself for violating the grove. After Ismene leaves to perform the needed rites Oedipus is forced to recount his dreadful story.  Theseus arrives, receives the refuges kindly, and offers them citizenship in Athens.  Although invited to take refuge in the King’s palace, Oedipus choses to remain in the sacred grove. The chorus sings of the beauty of their new homeland.

Creon, the Theban leader, arrives, but failing to persuade Oedipus to return, seizes the old man and his daughters. They are rescued by Theseus. The king tells Oedipus that a stranger has asked to speak with him: Polynices, his son, who begs Oedipus to back him in the impending war. The old man curses him and foretells the horrible future: his two sons will kill each other before the gates of Thebes.

Polynices leaves in despair, and suddenly a violent storm arises, terrifying all but Oedipus, who knows that he is being summoned.  Unaided, still blind, Oedipus rises and leads Theseus and his daughters to where he must die. He bids farewell to his daughters, for only Theseus may see his end.  Suddenly the gods call out to Oedipus: “come—you hold us back too long. Now is the time.”  The old man disappears, and Theseus is left alone, saluting the heavens and the earth in one great prayer.

Antigone and Ismene reappear, mourning Oedipus’s death. When Antigone asks to be sent to Thebes to try to save her brothers, Theseus agrees, the two sisters leave, while the chorus awaits “the appointed end”.

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