With fans’ attention on Doctor Sleep, Stephen King’s sequel to his acclaimed horror thriller The Shining, which is published next week, Minnesota Opera has announced that they will be premiering an opera based on The Shining as part of their 2016 programme.

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell are collaborating on the project, which will be directed by Eric Simonson, who first suggested the project in 2009 to artistic director Dale Johnson.

“I thought, ‘Are you kidding?’” Johnson told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “But it’s perfect for opera, when you think about it. You have a hero who is struggling, a strong mother, both trying to keep the family safe. Today’s audiences want to see stories about them, to look on stage and see familiar characters. And Americans love horror… An opera doesn’t have to be all Sturm und Drang. It can be entertaining, and scary.”

Once the rights situation was sorted out, thanks in part to King’s co-writer Peter Straub, a friend of Moravec, the project could go forward, although King has to sign off on the libretto. The opera will open in May 2016.

An opera based on King’s later novel Dolores Claiborne is opening this week in San Francisco.