About This Program

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Commissioned by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), Amahl and the Night Visitors was the first ever opera composed for television. Broadcast annually from 1951 to 1966, this one act opera became a holiday tradition for many similar to the Nutcracker or A Christmas Carol. Clocking in at a little under one hour, Amahl depicts the encounter of a young shepherd boy and his mother with the Three Magi on their way to honor the new born Christ child, the opera is filled with some of the finest music Gian Carlo Menotti ever wrote. At once dancing and then swelling into washes of emotion, Amahl and the Night Visitors is sure to make you reflect, and more than likely shed a tear or two.