New York City Opera general manager-designate Gerard Mortier announced that American composer Charles Wuorinen will pen an opera based on "Brokeback" for the 2013 spring season at the famed opera company.
Wuorinen previously composed Haroun and the Sea of Stories for NYCO. An adaptation of Salman Rushdie's novel, Haroun debuted Oct. 4, 2004.
In a statement composer Wuorinen said, "Ever since encountering Annie Proulx's extraordinary story I have wanted to make an opera on it, and it gives me great joy that Gerard Mortier and New York City Opera have given me the opportunity to do so."
Brokeback Mountain, according to NYCO, "is the story of ranch hand Ennis del Mar and rodeo cowboy Jack Twist, two young men who meet and fall in love on the fictional Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming in 1963. The 2005 film, of the same name, documents their complex relationship over the next twenty years."
The "Brokeback Mountain" film co-starred Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger. The motion picture won three Academy Awards, including Best Achievement in Directing (Ang Lee), Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score (Gustavo Santaolalla) and Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana).