I am playing Gian Carlo Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors this week in downtown Chicago at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. The orchestra for this piece is quite small, and I have never played it before. Once I got a recording of it and listened to it, I realized that I have heard this music my whole life. It is really great music and quite charming.

This piece has an interesting history. Read more about the piece and its genesis here. The orchestra is behind a scrim at the back of the theater, and the conductor (Victoria Bond) is using a video camera and video monitor to communicate and be seen by the actors. The Ruth Page Center is a small and charming theater in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood. I can take the train to this theater (it is right off of the Red Line) and leave my bass, which is a huge plus for me!


This is great holiday music–this piece plus the Nutcracker and Handel’s Messiah always go together in my mind. Check out a recording if you don’t have one:

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