Singer, songwriter, and composer Rufus Wainwright will workshop his new opera with Canadian playwright Daniel MacIvor in Cinninnati this fall, according to CityBeat.

Hadrian, which features music by Wainwright and a libretto by Maclvor, was commissioned by the Canadian Opera Company in 2013 and is set to open the company’s 2018–2019 mainstage season. Maclvor will also direct.

Set at the end of the classical era, Hadrian tells the story of the Roman Emperor Hadrian and his profound grief at the death of his lover Antinous.

“I’m thrilled to be setting out on this epic journey with the COC and look forward to once again diving into the deep end, a requirement on all fronts in the world of opera,” Wainwright commented in an earlier statement.

Ahead of its world premiere in Toronto, the opera will be workshopped as part of the 2017 Opera Fusion: New Works program in Cincinnati, a collaboration between the Cincinnati Opera and University of Cincinnati—College Conservatory of Music’s Opera Department.

Wainwright’s Bastille Day opera Prima Donna premiered in the U.S. at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in February 2012.

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