Cincinnati Opera and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music awarded the fall 2015 Opera Fusion: New Works residency to the new American opera Shalimar the Clown, composed by Jack Perla to a libretto by Rajiv Joseph. The culmination of the 10-day workshop was a free public performance at The Transept, a renovated church in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood.

That performance, held on October 17, 2015, will be streamed online, one time only, on Tuesday, December 8, 2015 at 3 p.m. Eastern/2 p.m. Central. Opera Theatre of Saint Louis will present the world premiere of Shalimar the Clown on June 11, 2016.

Adapted from a 2005 novel by Salman Rushdie, Shalimar the Clown tells the story of Shalimar and his beloved Boonyi, who have grown up together in a pastoral Kashmiri village, making people laugh as acrobats and dancers in a traditional folk theater. Though one is Muslim and one is Hindu, they fall in love—and despite all odds, their village embraces their marriage. But when a new American ambassador sees Boonyi dance, dark clouds gather. The promise of a new life tears their love apart and sends Shalimar down a path of revenge.

Click here to watch on December 8 at 3:00 p.m.