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And Finally Artist News Gigs & Festivals
Kanye West announces his first opera
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 18 November 2019
Having moved into gospel on his weirdly soulless ‘Jesus Is King’ album, Kanye West has now announced that he’s going to hop across to another new musical genre. Opera.
The rapper has shared the Nick Knight-designed cover artwork for an opera he’s knocked together, titled ‘Nebuchadnezzar’, who was a Babylonian king with which West identifies for some reason.
The show will premiere at the Hollywood Bowl on 24 Nov. Directed by Italian performance artist Vanessa Beecroft, it will feature music by West’s Sunday Service performers, Peter Colins and Infinities Song.
West recently discussed his affinity with Nebuchadnezzar in his latest waffley interview with Zane Lowe. Talking about his ‘Yeezus’ tour, he said: “[God] is saying, let me take this Nebuchadnezzar-type character – Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon, and he looked at his entire kingdom and said, ‘I did this’. [So] I stood on the top of the mountain talking about ‘Yeezus’, saying, ‘I’m a god’. I had a guy dressed as Jesus”.
So, I think you can expect this opera to be a bit over the top. But that’s what opera is, right? Maybe West has finally found a genre that can contain him. Or maybe it’ll be fucking terrible. Tickets for the show are on sale now, if you fancy finding out first hand.
