Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters [ tickets ] is set to make both a return to original music and a trek into previously unmapped territory when he unveils his new album "Ça Ira," a long-anticipated "operatic history of the French Revolution," in September.

His first attempt at composing an opera, "Ça Ira" represents a payoff of many years of work for Waters, who first began composing the piece in 1989, inspired by the bicentennial of the French Revolution, according to a press release.

The work--a collaboration with French songwriter Etienne Roda-Gil, who wrote the original libretto for the piece--portrays the French Revolution "through a multitude of perspectives--ranging from Marie Antoinette to the eyes and ears of the period's revolutionaries and common people--using a circus as a central theatrical framing device and metaphor," said a statement issued by his label.

The recording features a host of internationally acclaimed operatic singers, including Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel and American tenor Paul Groves, as well as orchestration by Waters himself, along with co-producer Rick Wentworth. The 2-disc first edition CD will include a 60-page booklet and a "making of" DVD.

In June, Waters reunited temporarily with his old bandmates in Pink Floyd to participate in the Live 8 concert at Hyde Park in London.