The Grand Rapids community can celebrate this holiday season with a gift from Grand Valley State University.

As an end to the Fall Arts Celebration, “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” an opera written by Gian Carlo Menotti, will be brought to life on the Fountain Street Church stage Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. during a free performance.

Henry Duitman, director of orchestras at GVSU, said he is glad this performance will be open to the Grand Rapids community.

“This we bill as Grand Valley’s gift to the community, and another reason we do it downtown is so that it reaches a wider audience than people coming out to Allendale,” Duitman said. “And I think it’s just the perfect Christmas gift for everyone.”

Because the story is centered around Christmas, Duitman said it fits with the holiday season.

“It’s just the perfect opera for, I think, our community and this time of year,” he said. “And it should just be a very popular thing.”

The Fountain Street Church provides more scenery for the audience than the venues at GVSU, he said, and the church can fit more audience members. The hour-long English performance and overall emotion of the opera, Duitman said, should leave audience members with a positive feeling.

“It’s a very wistful and enchanting story in so many respects,” Duitman said. “The performance should be fabulous.”

Along with GVSU students, the opera features Grand Rapids community members and professionals.

“We have a great mezzo-soprano coming from Canada to sing the part of the mother,” Duitman said. “The orchestra includes (GVSU) faculty members, there are a few students, and members from the Grand Rapids Symphony. So it’s a very professional sounding group.”

Bryon Jones is visiting form Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia as the stage director working behind the scenes at GVSU for the performance.

“…He’s recommended very highly and he’s going to be in charge of the stage direction for this,” Duitman said.

The instrumental part of the production goes along with the music as well as the story, something that Duitman has not seen done so well before.

“It matches the story better than almost any other piece I’ve conducted,” Duitman said. “It’s just very light, whimsical and at times very powerful, very melodic.”

Dale Schreimer, GVSU associate professor and director of vocal activities, enjoyed working closely with Aidan Baas, who plays the lead role of Amahl in the production.

Baas, a sixth-grader at East Grand Rapids Middle School also plays drums and piano, and Schreimer said he has a very strong work ethic.
“Aidan and I have been working together since June, once a week for about an hour,” Schreimer said. “He’s serious and well motivated.”

Shawn Bible, associate professor of dance and GVSU’s dance coordinator, worked with professionals Randy Herrera from the Houston Ballet Company and Autumn Eckman from the Giordano Ballet Company in Chicago for the “Shepherd’s Dance” piece.

“That dance is sort of to represent a joyous event for the shepherds to show their skill and their sort of folk-dancing qualities,” Bible said. “And what I’m doing with it, though, is I always like to make dances a little bit different than what the intentions are, so because of the dancers that are cast in this piece, that kind of changes the way in which I approach the choreography for it.”

Bible said people should come out to see the two professional dancers not only for the classic opera, but because the event is free.

“I would say of course that everybody would want to see these two dancers perform 100 percent, I mean they are top notch,” he said. “I mean they are so well known in the dance world that to have a free performance of them on that stage is incredible already.”
For more information, visit www.gvsu.edu/fallarts or call (616) 331-2180.

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