Christmas Eve, during the first year of World War I, soldiers from opposite sides put aside their differences and the war they were fighting to spend time together, sharing their provisions and stories with each other, to celebrate Christmas.
This beautiful, true story was told in the movie Joyeux Noël in 2005, and then adapted into an opera, Silent Night, in 2011 by librettist Mark Campbell and composer Kevin Puts, who as an alum of the Eastman School of Music.
Silent Night played to sold out houses in its first production at Minnesota Opera, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2012, and continues to be performed – including in a production at Glimmerglass for just a few more performances this summer.
I was able to catch up with Kevin Puts over the phone to talk about the opera, as well as his love of film music, and his plans to expand a work that he wrote for Renee Fleming based on a commission from the Eastman School of Music, “Letters from Georgia.” You can hear a short feature about the opera here, and listen to our full interview here:
