This little cupcake of an opera in one act, about which we are told nothing by the nice people at Centaur, takes place in Bethlehem 12 days after the birth of Christ. It seems to have tendencies toward Amahl and the Night Visitors and L’Enfance du Christ with a hint of “Let’s put on a show” thrown in. What stops it from cloying is its (at times) interesting scoring–solo harpsichord, harp, trumpets, flute, oboe, cello, and percussion. Composer Paul Stuart (no info again, but his photo puts him in his late 30s, I’d say) writes a nice vocal line and, as said, punctuates well with instrumentation, and his choruses, from the Opera Theatre of Rochester and the Eastman Bach Children’s Chorus sing relatively well, as do the soloists. The libretto, by Sally M. Gall (info absent) borrows much from the Bible and is singable. Conductor Raffaele Ponti keeps it all together. I guess if I were a teacher at a school for musically clever children (among others), I might put this on during the appropriate season, especially if I hadn’t the forces for the two works it tries to remind us of, mentioned above. Otherwise, I just don’t know what to do about it. Libretto included (Go, Centaur!). Over to you.
