Brokeback Mountain set for opera

Heath Ledger (left) was nominated for an Oscar

Brokeback Mountain, the story by Annie Proulx that became the basis for an Oscar-winning film, is to be made into an opera.

The New York City Opera has commissioned Charles Wuorinen to compose an opera based on the 1997 short story.

The opera is scheduled to premiere in spring 2013, the company said.

Brokeback Mountain is about two cowboys who start an affair when they meet on a mountain in 1963.

'Extraordinary story'

The 2005 film version starred the late Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, and won three Academy Awards.

The company said Wuorinen had accepted an invitation to compose the opera, which will be his second world premiere at City Opera.

He also composed Haroun and the Sea of Stories, an adaptation of a Salman Rushdie novel which opened in 2004.

"Ever since encountering Annie Proulx's extraordinary story I have wanted to make an opera on it," said Wuorinen, 70.

"It gives me great joy that Gerard Mortier and New York City Opera have given me the opportunity to do so."

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