O Solar Mio: An inconvenient opera

This may strike some as a bit much, but why the heck not? An opera based on "An Inconvenient Truth." The only problem is, how will the librettist keep the science of climate change current with an expected opening (at La Scala) of 2011? By then, we may be looking at a tragicomedy. Or perhaps an opera buffo, depending on how hot things get.

From the Guardian's story on the announcement:

La Scala's artistic director, Stephane Lissner, told a press conference the new opera had been commissioned from an Italian composer, Giorgio Battistelli. He said it would be staged in 2011.

"Lissner has had this idea in mind for some time," said a spokesman for the theatre. "Since before the award of Al Gore's Nobel, I believe."

He added that Battistelli, who was recently made artistic director of VeronaÃs Arena opera foundation, was a composer very much in tune with contemporary themes, including the environment. But he gave no hint as to how the 53-year-old maestro was expected to make an opera from the subject matter he has been allocated.

Battistelli, who until recently was composer-in-residence at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, could not be reached for comment yesterday. But the documentary version of An Inconvenient Truth deals not only with Al Gore's campaign to raise public awareness of global warming but also his life story; so a biographical work, with the former vice-president as one of the leading characters, may be in the offing.