Kadafi opera to open in England

A new opera based on the life of Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi, featuring a rapper as Kadafi and a chorus of all-female bodyguards, highlights the new season of the English National Opera.

The program of London’s second-largest opera company will be the first season fully curated by the company’s new artistic director, Sean Doran.

The Kadafi opera, created by the dance-hip-hop collective Asian Dub Foundation, and an opera based on Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s film “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant,” are among new works scheduled. Film director Anthony Minghella also will direct a production of “Madame Butterfly,” marking his first foray into opera.