In this special seasonal episode, our last podcast of 2020, Vancouver Opera Offstage has a holiday treat for our listeners: Les shares over 40 minutes of music recorded specifically for this podcast! Inspired by Menotti retracing his childhood memories of Christmas in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Les performs some solo piano music by Hungarian composers Franz Liszt, Béla Bartók, and Ernő Dohnányi, inspired by Christmas carols. Les also explores some of the history behind each composer and their work, with a guest appearance by Vancouver Opera Offstage co-producer and editor Vincent Wong, Senior Marketing and Sales Manager at Vancouver Opera.

Check out our episode at www.vancouveropera.ca/offstage, and don't forget to subscribe to Vancouver Opera's Digital Season to see Amahl and the Night Visitors at digital.vancouveropera.ca !

This episode has clickable Music Selections:
(available under "CHAPTER MARKERS" - tap the icon in the player with the three lines)

• Selection 1 (09:18): Franz Liszt, "In dulci jubilo: Die Hirten an der Krippe" (In dulci jubilo: The Shepherds at the Manger)
• Selection 2 (12:26): Franz Liszt, "Adeste fideles: Gleichsam als Marsch der heiligen drei Könige" (Adeste Fideles: March of the Three Holy Kings)
• Selection 3 (16:17): Franz Liszt, "Glockenspiel" (Carillon)
• Selection 4 (18:48): Franz Liszt, "Schlummerlied" (Slumber Song)
• Selection 5 (22:27): Franz Liszt, "Altes provençalisches Weihnachtslied" (Old Provençal Christmas Song)
• Selection 6 (24:12): Franz Liszt, "Abendglocken" (Evening Bells)
• Selection 7 (28:46): Franz Liszt, "Ehemals" (variously trans. as In Days Gone By, Old Times, Long Ago, Formerly) 
• Selection 8 (38:44): Béla Bartók, "Romanian Christmas Carols"
• Selection 9 (55:39): Ernő Dohnányi, "Pastorale" (based on the carol "The Angel came down from heaven")

Music recorded at Monarch Studios on December 5, 2020.

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