October 28, 2008

Amahl and the Night Visitors. Download image.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB Opera will present "Amahl and the Night Visitors" at 7:30 p.m. each night Friday, Nov. 21, and Saturday, Nov. 22, in the UAB Mary Culp Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th St. S. Birmingham. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the door. For information, call 205-934-8906.

UAB Opera is a program in the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Music. In addition to the two performances on campus, this production also will be presented twice on Sunday, Nov. 23, at 2:30 p.m. at Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church, 2061 Kentucky Ave., and at 6 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist, 1400 Oxmoor Rd., Homewood. All performances will be accompanied by piano.

"Amahl and the Night Visitors" was composed by Gian Carlo Menotti, who founded the Spoleto Festival in Italy and Charleston, S.C. UAB Opera Director Kristine Hurst-Wajszczuk sang for both festivals for four years and worked with Menotti himself. "Menotti is one of the most important composers of American opera in the 20th century, even though he is Italian by birth. It was the first opera written for television, and first aired on Dec. 24, 1951. However, he wrote it with a stage production in mind. It is now the most frequently performed opera in the United States," Hurst-Wajszczuk said.

The story of a crippled boy and his widowed mother, Amahl tries to tell his mother he has seen an enormous star with a long tail. His mother, used to his habitual lying, grows angry; more so when Amahl tells her that three kings have come to visit. They have come seeking a holy child and they show the rich gifts they have brought him. That night, Amahl's mother tries to steal some of the kings' gold to help her own child. She is caught, but when the kings offer to let her keep the gold, explaining that the king they seek needs only love to rule his kingdom, she returns the treasure. Amahl offers his crutch as an additional gift and suddenly finds that he can walk. He leaves with the kings to pay homage to the child who has healed him.