The opera will raise money for the Beslan school shooting victims

Almost 8,000 men and boys were executed in Srebrenica, which was a UN-declared safe zone at the time.

The Bosnian National Opera will perform the opera - called Srebrenicanke (Srebrenica women) - for the first time on Friday night.

The opera, which was composed by Ivan Cavlovic, will be dedicated to the victims of terrorism across the world.

Terrorism threat

The opening night's performance, at the National Theatre in Sarajevo, will be performed in memory of the hundreds of people who died after terrorists seized a school in the Russian town of Beslan last month.

Gojko Bjelac, who wrote the libretto and directs the opera, said: "The opera is about the sufferings of the Srebrenica women but it also tells a tale of the sufferings of all victims of terror in the entire world."

The opera, consists of 11 short impressions of the in genocide in Srebrenica, the Holocaust during World War II, and the threat of modern terrorism.

Bjelac said: "These 11 impressions create the overall message of the opera."

Documentary

He added that the Srebrenica tragedy had occupied him in a constant quest to explain to the public "the magnitude of the tragedy that happened there".

As well as the opera, Bjelac has also written two books and made a documentary on the subject.

He said: "I feel obliged as an artist to deal with this tragedy. Art should speak up against evil."

Gradimir Gojer, the director of the Bosnian National Theatre, said proceeds from the opening night will be sent to the Beslan victims' families in the Russian republic of North Ossetia.