Heartbeat Opera has announced the launch of its fifth season with the company’s annual Halloween Drag Extravaganza. This year’s show is titled “Dragus Maximus, a homersexual opera odyssey,” and will see three performances, the first taking place on Friday, October 26, at 8:00 pm. That will be followed up with showcases on Saturday, October 27 at 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm.

The show will feature the music of composers such as Monteverdi, Handel, and Offenbach as Homer undertakes a commission from Aphrodite herself to write an epic love poem, encountering a number of mythological figures in his Herculean labor. Each performance will also have a themed drink as well as a costume contest.

“Dragus Maximus” stars soprano Jamilyn Manning-White, bass-baritone John Taylor Ward, soprano Nicolette Mavroleon, and contralto Sara Couden. Heartbeat Opera’s resident chamber ensemble, Cantata Profana, will provide the orchestration under the music direction of Jacob Ashworth and Daniel Schlosberg.

Heartbeat Opera’s fifth season will also include a semi-staged concert version of Beethoven’s “Fidelio” at Rutgers Presbyterian Church on November 28 and 29, 2018, a concert version of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” at Portland, Orgeon’s Chamber Music North West on July 7 and 9, 2019.