Truce of Carols with Amahl & the Night Visitors December 18, 2010

December 18, 7:30PM and December 19, 2:30PM

World Premiere and a Holiday Favorite!

Truce of Carols, a World Premiere opera based on the poignant, true story of Christmas Eve 1914, in the Belgian trenches of WWI. Michael Taylor has created a vibrantly beautiful new opera that envelopes us in that moment of time.

The story of "TRUCE" began on Christmas Eve 1914, when German troops began decorating the area around their trenches in the region of Ypres, Belgium, for Christmas. They placed candles on trees then continued the celebration by singing Christmas carols, most notably Stille Nacht (Silent Night). The British troops in the trenches across from them responded by singing English carols. The two sides shouted Christmas greetings to each other. Soon thereafter, visits across the "No Man's Land" took place where the soldiers exchanged small gifts of whisky, jam, cigars, chocolate, sometimes addresses, and drank together. The artillery in the region fell silent that night. The truce also allowed burial parties a breathing spell to retrieve recently-fallen soldiers and bring them back behind their own lines. Proper burials took place as soldiers from both sides mourned the dead together and paid their respects, in spite of opposition at higher levels of the military. The truce spread to other areas of the lines, and there are many stories of soccer matches between the opposing forces. It lasted every where through Christmas night and in some areas, continued until New Year's Day.

Truce of Carols artists include: Adam Flowers, Erin Lahm, Cliff Romig, Jeffrey Taylor, Norm DeVol, Robert Snedegar, and Sascha Joggerst, the Mission City Opera Orchestra and of course Michael Taylor.

Amahl & the Night Visitors, by Giancarlo Menotti, features 11 year old Cameron McKay as the title character, Amahl; Sharon Kaye as his mother; and Sascha Joggerst, Cliff Romig, and Norm DeVol as the "Visitors" in this holiday tale of a young boy's stories regarding the three kings that become a reality.

Official Website: http://www.missioncityopera.org