Opera Wilmington's 'Amahl' is all boy

WILMINGTON -- A 10-year-old newcomer will help bring a venerable classic onstage Sunday, as Opera Wilmington stages its first winter production, "Amahl and the Night Visitors," at St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

Jose Chirinos, a student at Forest Hills Global Elementary School, will take the role of Amahl, the young crippled boy in a tale based on the legend of the Three Kings. Jose was a standout in the company's 2018 "opera camp," said Nancy King, Opera Wilmington's artistic director.

"I was the only boy there," Jose noted, with some regret.

As such, Jose joined fellow campers as featured singers in Opera Wilmington's production of "Die Fledermaus" last summer. He also earned a seat in North Carolina's All-State Honors Chorus.

"The Amahl part is very, very difficult to cast," said Joe Hickman, a veteran music professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, who is conducting the performance. "He has to be mature enough to handle the music but not so mature that his voice has changed."

Gian Carlo Menotti, the Spoleto Festival founder who composed "Amahl," was very insistent that the role had to be sung by a boy, not an adult soprano in pants. "The character is all boy," Hickman said.

In the one-act opera, Amahl is a very mischievous boy given to tall tales -- so much so that, when he reports that Three Kings have come to their little village in the Holy Land, his mother won't believe him.

Is Jose every that naughty? "Well, that depends," he said, grinning. He also pointed out that he turns 11 on Tuesday.

In the production, the three kings are played by UNCW music graduates Rusty Kling and Quentin Lovette and by Carl Samet, who sang the role of Capt. Zuniga in Opera Wilmington's production of "Carmen." Maria Beery plays Amahl's mother, while students from the UNCW Chamber Choir and other Forest Hills students will fill out the chorus.

Commissioned by NBC for the "Hallmark Hall of Fame" series, "Amahl" was the first opera written especially for television. It was broadcast during each Christmas season from 1951 to 1966. The show has special meaning for Hickman. David Aiken, the original King Melchior, was one of his teachers at Indiana University. Also, soon after he came to UNCW, he conducted a touring company of "Amahl" with Aiken and Rosemary Kuhlmann, who sang the Mother role for many seasons.

Founded in 2013, Opera Wilmington is UNCW's resident opera company, with faculty, advanced students and community members filling most of the roles. It mounts one major production each summer and a number of performances at venues around Wilmington throughout the year.

Reporter Ben Steelman can be reached at 910-616-1788 or Ben.Steelman@StarNewsOnline.com.

Want to go?

What: Opera Wilmington presents "Amahl and the Night Visitors" by Gian Carlo Menotti

When: 2 p.m. Jan. 13

Where: St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 16 N. 16th St.

Details: $25 adults, $8 children and students

Information: 910-862-3500 or operawilmington.org.