A CHRISTMAS SONG AND DANCE

Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), December, 2003

Byline: Fred Crafts The Register-Guard

Don't look now, but Gian Carlo Menotti's popular one-act holiday opera "Amahl and the Night Visitors" has just become a ballet.

Choreographed by University of Oregon assistant dance professor Amy Stoddard, the heartwarming story of a lame shepherd boy's encounter with the Three Kings will be danced - and sung and played - at the Eugene Symphony's Holiday Concert on Friday. It is the result of one of the largest collaborations ever between the orchestra and the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance.

From the campus will come 33 student performers - plus four faculty members - to join the 40-piece orchestra, guest conducted by Scott Terrell, at the Hult Center's Silva Concert Hall.

`` `Amahl'...