Gian Carlo Menotti
1911–2007. American composer. in the Neo-Romanticism tradition.
Italian-American opera composer best known for Amahl and the Night Visitors, the first opera written for television; strong holiday and religious associations.
Signature works: Amahl and the Night Visitors, The Medium, The Consul, The Telephone, The Saint of Bleecker Street.
1 product
Menotti: Amahl & the Night Visitors / Loddgard, Vienna Symphony
Premiered in 1951, ‘Amahl and the Night Visitors’ was the first opera specifically composed for television, though Gian Carlo Menotti admitted that he had conceived it for the stage. The magical story tells of Amahl, a disabled boy who befriends the Three Kings when they stop at his house on their journey to see the newborn Jesus. Amahl decides to give his crutch to Jesus, at which point his leg is miraculously healed. Long a Christmas favourite, this new Viennese production, sung in German, boldly re-examines the story finding its key elements to be fantasy, empathy and the enduring power of love.
REVIEW:
...the cast under Magnus Loddgard’s baton is good. Boy soprano Tempu Ishijima is outstanding in the title role, incredibly touching but not mawkish, and as his mother, Dshamilja Kaiser has a strong mezzo.
-- Opera Now
