“Composer Victoria Bond has been conducting a Christmas favorite, Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, with Chicago Chamber Opera for just over a decade,” writes Stephen Raskaukas on Friday (12/9) at Chicago classical radio station WFMT. “But since Bond is Jewish, ‘I’ve thought for many years that it would be nice to have a theatrical production for Jewish kids during the holiday season,’ she said. Her new opera, The Miracle of Hanukkah, has its fully-staged premiere [December 11] following several years of development with the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, which commissioned the work… [Says Bond], ‘The opera takes place in a contemporary high school classroom. The teacher is telling her class about the story of Hanukkah and different traditions.… The teacher explains that the story of Hanukkah has something to teach everyone.’ … One boy … is embarrassed to sing … but later he overcomes that fear, and when he sings, everyone is impressed by the beautiful sound and the menorah lights up by itself.’ … For the fully-staged premiere of the opera in Chicago, Bond made a number of cuts [to the nearly-one-hour opera] so that it could be paired with Amahl in a single performance.”
Posted December 12, 2016
