By Kevin Puts (1972)

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At a Glance – Silent Night by Kevin Puts (1972) • Silent Night, an opera in two acts by composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell, was commissioned and premiered by Minnesota Opera in 2011. • The opera is based on the 2005 French film, Joyeux Noel, which recounts the true story of a spontaneous ceasefire (known as the 1914 Christmas Truce) among Scottish, French and German soldiers during World War I. • Kevin Puts won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2012 for Silent Night - his first opera. Nikolaus Sprink, tenor – a German opera singer Anna Sørensen, soprano – a German opera singer and Sprink’s girlfriend Lieutenant Horstmayer, baritone The Scottish Lieutenant Gordon, baritone Father Palmer, baritone Jonathan Dale, tenor – young Scottish soldier The French Lieutenant Audebert, baritone Ponchel, baritone – Audebert’s aide-de-camp (personal assistant) Madeleine, soprano – Audebert’s wife • A horrific battle is fought. Nikolaus violently stabs a man to death. Jonathan is forced to leave his brother, who has been shot, on the battlefield. Casualties on all sides are assessed and lamented. • Gifts arrive on Christmas Eve for the troops, followed by sentimental singing by the soldiers on all sides. The three lieutenants agree to a cease-fire. The soldiers bravely enter no-man’s land, greet one another and share their gifts. • Father Palmer sets up a makeshift church and leads a mass. Anna appears and sings for the troops. • The truce is extended so the dead can be buried. • Word of the truce reaches headquarters. Troops on all sides get reprimanded. • You are a history buff and want to see a live reenactment of a historic event during WWI. • You long for and believe in the ideals of world peace. • You want to hear one of the most highly acclaimed modern operas of the 21st Century. .

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Silent Night the College Held a Brief, Yet Moving, Ceremony to Mark the Centennial of the Start of World Where: Singletary Center War I
OPERALEX.ORGbravo lex!FALL 2018 inside SOOP Little Red teaches kids to love opera, and obey SILENT their parents. Page 2 NIGHT Pulitzer Prize winner's moving story During the summer of 2014, I took a course at Merton College, Oxford. While I was there, Silent Night the college held a brief, yet moving, ceremony to mark the centennial of the start of World Where: Singletary Center War I. The ceremony was held outdoors in for the Arts, UK campus front of a list of names carved into a wall. The When: Nov. 9,10 at 7:30 p.m.; Nov. 11 at 2 p.m. names were those of young men from Merton Tickets: Call 859.257.4929 SUMMER DAYS College who died in the war. Some had been or visit We'll reap the benefit from students, others sons of staff and workers. We Taylor Comstock's summer www.SCFATickets.com all put poppies in our lapels and listened as the at Wolf Trap. Page 4 names were read out. The last one was the More on Page 3 name of a Merton student who had returned nLecture schedule for home to Germany to enlist, and like the others, other events n had fallen on the battlefield. A century later, all UK's Crocker is an expert on the Christmas truce the young men were together again as Merton See Page 3 Now you can support us when you shop at Amazon! Check out operalex.org FOLLOW UKOT on social media! lFacebook: UKOperaTheatre lTwitter: UKOperaTheatre lInstagram: ukoperatheatre Page 2 SOOPER OPERA! Little Red moves kids with music, story, acting SOOP – the Schmidt Opera Outreach Program – is performing Little Red’s Most Unusual Day in Kentucky schools this fall and the early reviews are promising.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 29 O CTOBER 2013 CONTACT : Daniel Zillmann, 612.342.1612 Minnesota Opera’s Silent Night to air on pbs The world-premiere production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning opera will be broadcast nationally on December 13, 2013 Minneapolis –Minnesota Opera’s production of Kevin Puts’ Silent Night , a company commission which earned its composer the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Music, will be broadcast nationally on pbs, pre - sented by tpt National Productions, on Friday, December 13 at 9pm et (check local listings). Minnesota Opera presented the world premiere of Silent Night in November 2011 , at Ordway in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It was composed by Kevin Puts with a libretto by Mark Campbell, based on the screenplay for Joyeux Noël by Christian Carion for the motion picture produced by Nord-Ouest Pro - duction. The opera recounts a miraculous moment of peace during one of the bloodiest wars in human history. On wwi ’s western front, Scottish, French and German officers defy their superiors and nego - tiate a Christmas Eve truce. Enemies become brothers as they share Christmas and bury their dead. William Burden starred as the soldier whose voice inspired peace – if only for a day. Silent Night was conducted by Minnesota Opera’s Music Director Michael Christie and staged by Academy Award-winning director Eric Simonson. Silent Night , which was recently honored with a re - gional Emmy nomination, was the first commission of Minnesota Opera’s New Works Initiative, a landmark program designed to invigorate the operatic repertoire with an infusion of contemporary works. “A major objective of the New Works Initiative is to see that the new works we produce enter the repertoire and reach an audience far beyond our own local market,” said President and General Director Kevin Ramach.
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SCORE Silent Night Franz Gruber = 78 Pentatonix q Soprano j j ˙ œ & b 3 œ. œ œ Œ œ. œ œ Œ ˙ Œ ˙ œ 4 Si lent night˙ Ho - ly night˙ All is calm All is P Alto 3 & b j Œ j Œ ˙ œ ˙ Œ ˙ œ 4 œ. œ œ ˙ œ. œ œ ˙ P Si lent night ho ly night All is calm all is Tenor ˙ œ V b 3 œ. œ œ Œ œ. œ œ Œ ˙ Œ ˙ œ 4 Si J lent night˙ Ho J ly night˙ All is calm all is P Baritone ? 3 b 4 ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ Bass ? 3 b 4 ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ S j j j & b ˙ Œ ˙ œ œ. œ œ œ. œ œ Œ ˙ œ œ. œ œ bright round yon vir gin mo ther and child˙ ho ly in fant so A b Œ j j Œ j & ˙ œ œ. œ œ . œ ˙ œ œ œ. œ œ bright˙ round yon vir gin moœ ther andœ child˙ ho ly in fant so T œ. œ. V b ˙ Œ ˙ œ œ œ œ. œ œ Œ ˙ œ œ œ œ bright round yon vir J gin mo therJ and child˙ ho ly in fantJ so B ? b ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ B ? ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑ 8 b © 2 Silent Night S j ˙ œ œ œ & b œ. œ œ Œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ Œ ˙ œ ten der and mild˙ Sleep in hea ven ly peace Sleep in A b j Œ œ Œ & . œ ˙ œ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ ˙ tenœ der andœ mild˙ Sleep in hea ven ly peace Sleep inœ T ˙ œ œ œ œ V b œ.
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