Rufus Wainwright to compose opera

Rufus Wainwright has announced that he is to compose a piece for New York's Metropolitan Opera. The story will focus on a day in the life of a singer - a theme it took Wainwright a surprisingly long time to come up with. He told Variety: "I've wanted to write an opera since I was about 14 years old but I couldn't find a story that I could wrap my head around. [I was inspired by] the construct of the diva, from Maria Callas to Norma Desmond and the movie 'Diva' from the '80s. And God darn it, there's a bit of me in that too.".