Tired of the Ring Cycle? How about the Qeb bI'reS? A Dutch company has written, arranged and now premiered what it is calling the first ever Klingon opera, inspired by the fictional species from the Star Trek universe. Replacing Tristan and Isolde with Kahless the Unforgettable, the production features a Klingon story with Klingon lyrics and Klingon singers – or at least "Terrans" in forehead-ridged costumes.

The production is called u, which somehow translates to "universe" or "universal". Conceived by the Klingon Terran Research Ensemble (KTRE), based in the Hague, the opera premiered at the city's Zeebelt Theatre on Thursday and will be staged on 25 September in Farnsberg, Germany. These performances apparently coincide with the end of the Klingon summer solstice (in this year of Kahless 846).

According to NPR, "very few examples of Klingon opera survive" and artistic director, Floris Schoenfeld, had to "recreate" – or, er, make up – the civilisation's primary musical texts. Schoenfeld conceived an "ancient treatise" called the paq'jachchcu, or book of the perfect scream, "basically the theory manuscript of Klingon music".

The group spent a year developing the opera, including a residency at New York's Watermill Center, which was founded by Einstein On the Beach director Robert Wilson. "They're really being very serious," remarked the director of the Byrd Hoffman Watermill Foundation. "I think it really is the result that matters, and I found the result quite fascinating and interesting and strange and weird."

The KTRE has even sent an invitation to its "homeworld". As part of its promotional work in April, the group used a decommissioned radio telescope to beam an invite to the planet Qo'noS, home of the imaginary species. The message was spoken by Marc Okrand, the linguist commissioned by Star Trek to create the language. Okrand is also credited as a librettist on u.

To ensure its opera remains a faithful production, 36 light years from "home", Schoenfeld admitted the KTRE had to "assume a lot of things". "We can't go to Qo'noS and hang out with the Imperial Opera," he said. "That's just not an option right now. And we're hoping, of course, for some grants to allow that."