CAST

PRODUCTION TEAM

Written by Peter Rothstein with vocal arrangements by Erick Lichte and Timothy C. Takach, artistic director Grant Preisser once again directs this band of brothers with Andrew Minear making his Company debut as music director. The troupe of singers welcomes back previous cast members, along with new faces coming together in harmony to tell this powerful story: the story of a German soldier stepping into No Man’s Land to sing “Stille Nacht (Silent Night),” which began an extraordinary and unprecedented night of music, acceptance, and peace. 

Attending the Opera is a great excuse to dress to the nines or even to come dressed in the style and character of the opera being presented. Opera attendees are encouraged to dress formally and comfortably in whatever style they chose to enjoy the Opera. We do ask that you please silence or turn off your cell phone and please refrain from using your cell phone or any other electronic device during the performance.

MORE OF THE MAINSTAGE

OPERA INSIGHTS LUNCHEON

Lunch with stage director Grant Preisser and music director Andrew Minear as they provide an inside look into Opera Orlando’s All is Calm: the Christmas Truce of 1914.

Thursday | December 15 at 11:30 a.m.

Enzian Theater
1300 Orlando Avenue | Maitland, FL 32751

$45 per person

Join the Burnett Honors College and Opera Orlando for a conversation on the power of music, centered around Opera Orlando's production of All is Calm: the Christmas Truce of 1914.

Wednesday | November 16 at 11:30 a.m.

UCF's L3Harris Engineering Center Room 125

Sunday | December 11 at 3 p.m.

THE RITZ THEATER
at Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center
201 S Magnolia Avenue | Sanford, FL 32771

Friday | December 2 at 7:30 p.m.

POLK THEATRE
121 S Florida Avenue | Lakeland, FL 33801

LEARN MORE

The Christmas truce of World War I represents a truly unique and powerful moment in history. It was, in fact, not an isolated event in Christmas 1914 but rather one of a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires only five months into the war.

At the outset of World War I, the German attack through Belgium into France had been repelled outside Paris by French and British troops at the Battle of the Marne in early September. The Germans fell back to the Aisne valley, where they prepared defensive positions. In the subsequent Battle of the Aisne, the Allied forces were unable to push through the German line, and the fighting quickly degenerated into a stalemate; neither side was willing to give ground, and both started to develop fortified systems of trenches.

By November, there was a continuous front line running from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier, occupied on both sides by armies in prepared defensive positions. Hostilities lulled as leadership on both sides reconsidered their strategies following the stalemate of the “Race to the Sea” and the indecisive result of the First Battle of Ypres. In the week leading up to December 25, French, German, and British soldiers crossed trenches to exchange seasonal greetings and talk. In some areas, men from both sides ventured into “No Man’s Land” on Christmas Eve and day to mingle and exchange food and souvenirs. There were joint burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps, with several meetings ending in a round of carols. Men even played games of football with one another, creating one of the most memorable images of the truce.

Roughly 100,000 British and German troops were involved in the unofficial truces along the Western Front, and multiple accounts exist about this rare occasion. The following year, a few units arranged ceasefires, but the truces were not nearly as widespread as in 1914, due in part to strongly worded orders prohibiting truces from the high commands on both sides. As the war dragged on, soldiers were no longer amenable to truce by 1916.

The war had become increasingly horrifying after staggering human losses suffered during the battles of the Somme and Verdun and the use of poison gas. Nonetheless, the truce continues to inspire us today with such retellings as All is Calm: the Christmas Truce of 1914, the critically acclaimed foreign film Joyeux Noel, the Pulitzer-prize winning opera Silent Night, and even the upcoming Peter Jackson film, 1917.

Book our studio artists to come to your school or community center for a special preview performance of All is Calm: the Christmas Truce of 1914 through our in-school programs and Studio Artists.