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| Michael Hewitt |
Barihunk and fitness guru Michael Hewitt will portray Lt Horstmayer in the Glimmerglass Festival's production of Kevin Puts' Pulitzer Prize-winning opera
Silent Night. The cast also includes Conor McDonald as Ponhel, Jonathan Bryan as Lt Gordon, Wm. Clay Thompson as Father Palmer, Brian Wallin as the German General, Michael Miller as Lt Audebert, Mary Hangley as Anna Sørensen, Arnold Livingston Geis as Nikolaus Sprink, Christian Sanders as Jonathan Dale, Kayla Siembieda as Madeleine Audebert, Tim Bruno as General Audebert and Dale Travis as the British Major. Nicole Paiement will conduct.
Performances run from July 15 – August 23 and tickets are available
online.
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| Silent Night at Glimmerglass (Image: Glimmerglass Festival) |
The opera is based on the screenplay
Joyeux Noël
by Christian Carion and 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
negotiate a Christmas Eve truce. Enemies become brothers as they share
Christmas and bury their dead.
The Minnesota Opera presented the world premiere of
Silent Night
in November 2011 with a cast that included barihunks Craig Irvin as
Lieutenant Horstmayer, Gabriel Preisser as Lieutenant Gordon, Mike Nyby
as William Dale, Liam Bonner as Lieutenant Audebert, Troy Cook as
Father Palmer, Joseph Beutel as the British Major, Ben Wager as the
General and Andrew Wilkowske as Ponchel.
The opera has also been performed at the Washington National Opera, Opera North, Austin Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Fort Worth Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, Calgary Opera, Atlanta Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Piedmont Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Opera de Montreal.
