Background:  

Menotti composed Amahl and the Night Visitors for NBC-TV in 1951, making it the first opera written for television.  Amahl and the Night Visitors, which tells the story of a crippled boy (Amahl) and his mother who are visited by three kings, has become a Christmas classic.

The GW Department of Music production of Ahmal and the Night Visitors will feature GW music students, with directorial roles filled by the GW faculty.  Von Villas is a GW professor who has taught voice and stage operas internationally, including a round-the-world tour in 1995.  In her career she has staged more than 70 productions, including Carmen, La Boheme, Pagliacci, Le nozze di Figaro and La Traviata, for more than a dozen companies, including Natchez Opera, Berkshire Opera, Gold Coast Opera and Opera Americana. 

Conlon is a GW professor who has appeared at most of the colleges and concert halls in the greater Washington area and has performed in many different cities throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, India and Japan.  He has played in New York City at Carnegie Recital Hall, in Boston at the Gardner Museum and in Philadelphia at the Robin Hood Dell.