Singer and composer Rufus Wainwright is writing another opera. He will follow 2009's Prima Donna, which premiered in Manchester, with Hadrian--a commission for the Canadian Opera Company. It's based on the life of the Roman Emperor Hadrian and his love for Antinous, a man in his circle who died in mysterious circumstances.
In a press release, Wainwright said that he was inspired by Marguerite Yourcenar's novel Memoirs of Hadrian. That story led him further afield, to research and discover (not least by visiting Hadrian's villa at Tivoli), and he has been working on the opera with COC for some three years.
He says of the shadowy figure of Antinous: "Essentially the male equivalent to Helen of Troy--though we know he actually existed and exactly what he looked like. At one point he was neck and neck with Christ in terms of cult status after disappearing in the Nile. Imagine what a different world that would have been if he had lived!"
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