Jan. 23 – Feb. 8, 2026
Brown Theater, Wortham Theater Center
Houston, Texas – USA
Kevin PUTS: Silent Night
Kensho Watanabe, conductor; James Robinson, director; Kevin Puts, composer; Mark Campbell, librettist. Cast: Miles Mykkanen / Michael McDermott (Nikolaus Sprink), Sylvia D’Eramo (Anna Sørensen), Ryan McKinny (Lieutenant Horstmayer), Iurii Samoilov (Lieutenant Audebert), Thomas Glass (Lieutenant Gordon), Edward Nelson (Ponchel), Brandon Cedel (Father Palmer), Jack Swanson (Jonathan Dale), Chad Shelton (Kronprinz), Charles H. Eaton (William Dale), Ziniu Zhao (French General), Sam Dhobhany (British Major), Elizabeth Hanje (Madeleine Audebert). Creative: Mimi Lien, scenic designer; Catherine Zuber, costume designer; Lap Chi Chu, lighting designer; Seán Curran, movement director; Olivia Knight, intimacy director; Luke Fedell, fight director; Andrew Harper, sound director; Richard Bado, chorus director; HGO Orchestra & Chorus. A Co-Production of Houston Grand Opera and The Metropolitan Opera.
Sherry Cheng | 5 JAN 2026
Commissioned and premiered by Minnesota Opera in 2011, composer Kevin Puts’ Pulitzer-winning first opera, Silent Night, has since seen numerous performances by mostly North American companies. The opera has deservedly become a modern American classic. It is storytelling at its best. Librettist Mark Campbell’s complex, layered multilingual libretto, hand in hand with Puts’ cinematic, polystylistic, and emotionally affecting score, makes for a powerful yet tender dramatization of the 1914 Christmas truce set amidst the horrors of trench warfare on the Western Front.
Houston Grand Opera’s brand new co-production with the Metropolitan Opera features Puts’ own revised version, completed last year. The composer has said that he “made little tweaks to the vocal parts,” and that “a little something changed in every single line in the opera.” The result is luminous. One can feel Puts’ embrace of the language, imbuing words with the nuance and precision of his musical phrasing and orchestration.
The narrative plays out cinematically on designer Mimi Lien’s slanted, two-level stage. The bleak, gray tones of the battlefield above and the divided trenches below are only momentarily brightened by a tinselled Christmas tree, and an incongruous soiree in the chandeliered music room of the Crown Prince’s palace, where the famous German tenor Nikolaus Sprink, recalled for one night from the front lines, has been asked to perform with his lover Anna Sørensen.
HGO assembled a fantastic cast for this production. It is very much an ensemble cast, buoyed by the company’s stupendous male chorus, directed by seasoned Chorus Director Richard Bado. All of the main characters, and many of the supporting roles, are given substantial musical material to lean into, giving the audience a window into their inner thoughts and feelings. Ukrainian baritone Iurii Samoilov was superb as French Lieutenant Audebert, especially in the poignant aria where he grimly sings the names of the men killed in battle, even as he tenderly recalls his wife, who is pregnant with their child. Audebert’s personal aide Ponchel, played by tenor Edward Nelson, is such an amiable fellow (between being the best barber and making the best coffee in the world) that his simple wish to see his mother and enjoy a moment of silence with her makes his tragic end unbearable. Bass baritone Ryan McKinny makes his presence felt as the German Lieutenant Horstmayer, his voice as assured and principled as his character.
A scene from the Houston Grand Opera’s new production of “Silent Night,” with the HGO Chorus portraying three different armies together, yet separate, on stage. (credit: Cory Weaver)
In two acts, director James Robinson moves the action quickly and effectively from scene to scene, starting with the opening “opera within an opera,” to the chaos and bombast of battle, to quiet personal reflection and intimate interactions in the trenches of the German, French, and Scottish troops, to the wonder of the ceasefire that bring all the men together in brotherhood and camaraderie, to the poignant scene where all sides bury their dead.
Many moments stand out. Tenor Miles Mykkanen’s Sprink defiantly steps out of the trenches to sing a carol for all, answered by the Scots with a tune on the bagpipe. Music is the unifier, literally and metaphorically. Soprano Sylvia D’Eramo, playing Anna, sings “Dona nobis pacem” at the impromptu Christmas Eve mass. With no orchestral accompaniment, her stratospheric high notes pierce the air, a poignant plea for peace. The all-male chorus, often in overlapping counterpoint, delivers some of the most affecting moments of the opera, especially the beautiful lullaby in Act I and the heartrending burial processional in Act II.
Sung in German, French, and English, with Latin thrown in as well, the multilingual libretto was so well-conceived and even more brilliantly realized in music by the composer. Opportunities for counterpoint and layering were abundant, creating densities and colors that were never superfluous. When individual soldiers spoke one-liners, overlapping each other in succession, the effect was a cumulative crescendo for humanity and hope.
The music for the battle scene renders shock and awe with its barrage of sonic explosions of bombs and guns, while visually, soldiers in their distinctive uniforms, designed by Catherine Zuber, engage in brutal hand-to-hand combat. The movement and fight directors, Sean Curran and Luke Fedell, deserve a shoutout for their realistic and stylish choreography.
Shining through it all was the HGO Orchestra, under the superb direction of Kensho Watanabe, making his HGO debut. The orchestra created a sweeping panorama: a harrowing battle, a stroke of the harp in peace, the near silence of falling snow, high, shimmering strings, glorious battle songs, and tender reveries, a pastiche of Mozart and Schubert. The story is in the music, and the music makes the story. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Houston Grand Opera: houstongrandopera.org
- Kevin Puts: kevinputs.com
- Mark Campbell: rmarkcampbellwords.com
- Kensho Watanabe: kenshowatanabe.com
- James Robinson: imgartists.com/roster/james-robinson
- Iurii Samoilov: iuriisamoilov.com
- Miles Mykkanen: milesmykkanen.com
- Sylvia D’Eramo: sylviaderamo.com
- Edward Nelson: edwardnelsontenor.com
- Ryan McKinny: ryanmckinny.com
Read more by Sherry Cheng.
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