by Kevin Puts

New York-based composer and Peabody Institute faculty member Kevin Puts has won the Pulitzer Prize for music with Silent Night, his first opera. The work received its world premiere in November 2011 in at Minnesota Opera in St. Paul. Hear the opera in its entirety using the player below.

Libretto by Mark Campbell
Directed by Eric Simonson

A Minnesota Opera New Works Initiative Production Based on the screenplay for Joyeux Noël by Christian Carion for the motion picture produced by Nord-Ouest Production.

A fascinating true story, Silent Night recounts a miraculous moment of peace during one of the bloodiest wars in human history. On World War I’s western front, weapons are laid down when the Scottish, French and German officers defy their superiors and negotiate a Christmas Eve truce. Enemies become brothers as they come together to share Christmas and bury their dead. Acclaimed tenor William Burden stars as the soldier whose voice inspired peace among adversaries – if only for a day.