(ANSA) - - An opera composed by former Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters will have its world premiere at the main auditorium of the new Music Park here on November 17, organizers confirmed.
The opera, 'Ca Ira', will be performed in the main Santa Cecilia Hall by some 100 elements from the Rome Symphony and 80 members of its chorus, including children. Waters himself may conduct.
A chorus of children was one of the key elements in one of the landmark 'concept' albums Waters wrote for Pink Floyd, 'The Wall' in 1979.
Waters, who was the driving force behind the British progressive rock group in its hey day of the late 1970s and early '80s, began work on the composition in 1989, during the bicentennial celebrations for the French Revolution. Ca Ira, which roughly means 'So It Will Be', is in fact set against the backdrop of the French Revolution. This is Waters' his first foray into classic opera. A double CD of the work is set to be released in September.
Waters rejoined the other members of Pink Floyd for the first time since 1981 when they performed in London for last month's Live 8 global concert. He split with the group over creative differences with
guitarist David Gilmour, who then took over Pink Floyd.
Rome's Music Park is a performing arts center designed by award-winning architect Renzo Piano, whose works include the Pompidou Centre in Paris and Osaka Airport in Japan, the world's largest.
It has three concert halls and a 3,000-seat outdoor amphitheatre, as well as a hanging garden modelled on the mythical gardens of Babylon.
