Dusseldorf - The Fashion, a new opera by Italian composer Giorgio Battistelli, 54, is to premiere on January 26 in the German city of Dusseldorf, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein opera house said Friday. The Rhein commissioned the work from Battistelli, who lives in Rome. The libretto is by Bob Goody of Britain.
The Fashion tells the story of a male model, Tarquin, being replaced at a fashion show by another good-looking model, who is later discovered to be a woman, shocking the glitterati.
A Rhein spokeswoman said the topic well suited Dusseldorf, one of Germany's main fashion centres. Chief conductor John Fiore is to lead the Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra playing the new music.
The Rhein praised the composer on Friday, saying his music had a "great affinity to musicals and opera."
It described him as part of the generation that has taken up the torch in Italy from the post-Second-World-War opera greats Luigi Dallapiccola, Luigi Nono and Luciano Berio. He has worked for Rhein for the past decade.
