Dec. 4, 2002 – The University of the Virgin Islands Music Department will feature "Amahl and the Night Visitors" in the annual Christmas concert at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, at the Reichhold Center for the Arts.
There'll be something of the season for all musical tastes.
The university's concert band and choir will be joined by an orchestral chamber ensemble from the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra and community members. UVI professor Austin Venzen is conductor and professor Elvira O. Green is the stage director.
"Sleigh Ride" by Leroy Anderson; Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring; and soloist Green in "Mary, Did You Know" are among the program numbers.
There will also be the crowd-pleasing Christmas Sing-A-Long, with Cecilia Dennery signing for the hearing impaired, and Santa Claus will also be on the scene.
This year's production includes Gian-Carlo Menotti's one-act opera "Amahl and the Night Visitors," the first opera ever composed expressly for television. It was aired on NBC-TV in 1951, and was a Christmas staple on NBC for many years. The story is of a lame shepherd boy whose home is visited by the three kings on their way to find "the king." Amahl offers his staff as a gift.
The part of Amahl is played by Danielle Greenaway, his mother by Detra Davis, slightly-deaf King Kasper by Eltino Pickering, King Melchior by Anthony A. Philpott, King Balthazar by Timothy Abraham, and "the page" by Lincoln Ward.
Tickets are $30 (covered section), $20 (middle section) and $10 (upper section) and can be purchased from the Dockside Bookstore (Havensight), Krystal & Gifts Galore (Tutu Park Mall), UVI Humanities Division, UVI Bookstore and Reichhold Center Box Office.
Publisher's note : Like the St. Thomas Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
