Colby-Sawyer College Singers Present Holiday Classic 'Amahl and the Night Visitors' One-Act Opera
NEW LONDON, N.H. — The Colby-Sawyer Singers will again offer their musical gift of an annual holiday concert. This year's performance, the holiday classic “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” will be on Wednesday, Dec. 10, at 7 p.m. in the Sawyer Fine and Performing Arts Center. Community members are invited to attend, and admission is free.
“Amahl and the Night Visitors” is a one-act opera written for television in 1951. The production made a regular appearance on the NBC network until 1960, when the original recording was lost.
In the opera, Amahl, a lame shepherd, tells his mother he has seen a giant star with a long tail, but his mother does not believe him and becomes angry. Her anger grows as Amahl tells her the knock on the door is three kings who have come to visit. The kings enter their home and inform the pair that they are in search of another king, and show the gifts they have brought for him.
Amahl's mother, in her desperation to help her son, tries to steal from the kings and is caught. The kings offer to let her keep the gold, telling her that the king they seek will need nothing but love to rule his kingdom. She returns the gold, and Amahl offers his help to the kings as a gift.
Colby-Sawyer President Tom Galligan will serve as this year's master of ceremonies. Forty-one cast members join the CSC Singers and include additional students and community members. The community members who will play the roles of the mother and three kings are Michelle Gosnell, Greg Johnson, Phil Porter and Jack Tate. CSC Singers take on the role of the shepherds during the performance, and two Colby-Sawyer students, Andrew Francis '11 and Samantha St. Onge '12, will play the page and Amahl, respectively. Dancers from the Kearsarge Conservatory of the Performing Arts will also take part in the production.
Susan Cancio-Bello, Fine and Performing Arts adjunct faculty member, is the musical director for the production and Don Boxwell provides stage direction. Orchestra members for the performance include Jean Liepold (piano), Susan Cancio-Bello (keyboard), Melanie Deshaies (flute), Nicole Densmore (flute), Courtney Connor (trombone), Erika Cancio-Bello (clarinet), Sarah Cottrill, Will McCarthy and Karrie Wessing.
-Amber Cronin '11
Colby-Sawyer, founded in 1837, is a comprehensive liberal arts college located in the scenic Lake Sunapee Region of central New Hampshire. Our students learn in small classes through a select array of programs that integrate the liberal arts and sciences with pre-professional experience.
Colby-Sawyer College, 541 Main Street, New London, N.H. 03257 (603) 526-3000.
