Kanye West isn’t done with his religious projects yet. After turning from hip hop to gospel for his latest album Jesus is King and taking his Sunday Service specials on the road — most recently to Joel Osteen’s megachurch in Houston, Texas — Kanye has announced he’s going to be working on an opera.
In a message on social media, Kanye announced that he is making an opera about Nebuchadnezzar, the longest-reigning king of Babylon who is often referenced in the bible.
‘Ye shared artwork of the invitation online.
From the report:
Kanye West has announced his first-ever opera, Nebuchadnezzar. West took to Twitter earlier today to post artwork of a golden program featuring an engraving of the titular Babylonian king. The opera is directed by Italian performance artist Vanessa Beecroft and will take place at the Hollywood Bowl on November 24. The event will also feature music by Kanye’s Sunday Service performers, as well as Peter Colins & Infinities Song. Tickets for the opera go on sale Monday (November 18). Find the Nebuchadnezzar artwork (designed by Nick Knight) below.
Kanye had previously hinted at the Nebuchadnezzar opera while promoting Jesus is King.
“[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,’ ” West tod Apple Music’s Beats 1 in October, according to Pitchfork. “I stood on the top of the mountain talking about Yeezus, saying, ‘I’m a God’ — I had a guy dressed as Jesus.”
Tickets for Nebuchadnezzar: A Kanye West Opera are available as of Monday, November 18.
While we don’t know exactly how many runnings of Nebuchadnezzar will take place, we do know that the first and only publicly scheduled showing as of now is set for Sunday, November 24 at the Hollywood Bowl — which is considered one of the 10 best live music venues in America by Rolling Stone magazine — in Los Angeles, California.