OPERA on the MAINSTAGE
music by Kevin Puts
libretto by Mark Campbell
Friday | February 6, 2026 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday | February 8, 2026 at 2 p.m.
STEINMETZ HALL
Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts
Sung in various languages with English and Spanish supertitles. Estimated run time of two hours and thirty minutes inclusive of one intermission.
Age advisory: PG
Tickets exclusively available through Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Find out more about accessibility options at the venue HERE.
Silent Night, based on the 2005 Academy Award-winning film Joyeux Noël, directed by Christian Carion and produced by Nord-Ouest Production, premiered in 2011 to great critical acclaim winning the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2012 with an immediate PBS broadcast. Silent Night stands alone as the most performed modern opera with a compelling and cinematic retelling of the true story of the 1914 WWI Christmas Truce. This powerful work underscores the yearning, despair, and hope of the soldiers living in the trenches while masterfully juxtaposing the bombastic sounds of war with serene songs from home featuring the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra in the pit and the Opera Orlando Chorus.
Silent Night recounts a miraculous moment of peace during one of the bloodiest wars in human history. Scottish, French, and German officers defied their superiors and negotiated a Christmas Eve truce. Silent Night masterfully juxtaposes the bombastic sounds of war with serene songs from home. It stands as a heartfelt hymn to our common humanity.
Opera Orlando has created a brand new production for this momentous work featuring a stellar cast led by Grammy Award-winner Gabriel Preisser, tenor Brendan J. Boyle, and internationally-acclaimed soprano Julia Radosz with Robert Wood conducting the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra in the pit.
generously supported by
CAST
CREATIVE TEAM
As the story of the Christmas Truce of 1914 continues to be shared today, the true humanity of the individual soldiers on the frontlines shines through the horrors of war. However, to truly understand the miraculous moment of camaraderie in the midst of the most devastating war on record at the time, we must examine the sacrifice made by the soldiers in the trenches. Leading to the fall of the Russian, Austria-Hungarian, Ottoman, and German empires, World War I was not merely a conflict between nations but a strategic game of war played by those in power who made decisions from afar. Ultimately, the majority of infantry in trenches consisted of men ages 18-25; however, many outliers were verified to be as young as 12.
Due to the introduction of artillery and machine guns, trenches constructed with sandbags, planks, sticks, barbed wire, and mud were necessary to protect the immediate frontline soldiers. World War I sat at the intersection of prototypical warfare and introduction to new fatal technology that was more destructive than ever before. Although trenches were meant to offer protection, they became incredibly dangerous as direct hits could cause soldiers to be trapped or killed where they stood.
THE COST OF WAR
Undated photograph of a trench interior. Courtesy of The National WWI Museum and Memorial.
Immerse yourself in a digital tour of recreations of WWI trenches. Courtesy of The National WWI Museum and Memorial.
Conditions in the trenches were horrific. Soldiers were surrounded by mud, disease, and the stench of decaying corpses and huge rats feeding on them. Damp conditions often led to ‘trenchfoot,’ which could lead to amputation or death in cases of infection. No Man’s Land was a nightmarish empty space between enemy trenches, littered with bullets, tree stumps, barbed wire, and poison gas.
Of the almost 100 million total troops mobilized, just over 54 million casualties were verified. The young men on the frontlines of the war had little connection to the rationale of the world leaders engaged in a chess game from afar. None were familiar with the true horrors of modern warfare and over half of them never returned home. As we present Silent Night, we reflect on the ultimate sacrifices of those who fight for their country, serving for the safety and freedom of those at home.
Courtesy of Dr. Amy Larner-Giroux and Dr. Barbara Gannon and the Central Florida Veterans Memorial Park Foundation, we have compiled a list of all World War I veterans from Central Florida. Those designated with an asterisk were confirmed to have lost their life during the war. This is not a comprehensive list and also includes the names of family members of our cast who served in the war. We will remember them.
*Lewter, Robert D.
Light Jr., Ely
Liles, Archie B.
Limpus, Charles E.
Lindland, Tellef
Link, Carl T.
Link, John Raymond
Livingston, Walter C.
Lloyd, Romeo F.
Lo Bean, Lester John
Lobean, Orlie Henry
Lockhart, Raymond H.
Lossing, Arthur D.
Lovell Jr., Myron W.
Lucius, Evans
Lutz, Edward L.
Mack, James O.
Madison, Joe C.
Magruder, Chelsey G.
Magruder, Clarence Caphas
Mahlig, Arthur R.
Makinson, William T.
Marcum, Carl E.
*Martin, Dave L.
Martin, Fred Axon
Martin, Loren G.
Martin, William F.
Mathews, Dorsey
Mathis, Arthur
Mayer, Gerald E.
Mayer, Jacob R.
Mayer, Paul L.
Mayer, Walter F.
Mays, Burton
Mays, Willie
McBride, Harry L.
McCamy, John S.
McClenan, Hershell
McCracken, Garland H.
McCraney, Albert H.
McCray, Herman
McCullens, Rodger
*McDougle, Benjamin Homer
McDowell, Edwin Hardie
McElroy, James M.
McGiness, Charles William
McIntosh, Alvah S.
McKay, Durward P.
McKay, John
McKenney, Clyde Marian
McKiney, Edgar
McMillan, Albert J.
McMillan, Ernest R.
McMillan, John P.
McMillon, James
McNair, Robert L.
McPherson, William
McQueen, James
McRay, Hardy
McWhite, Fletcher
Meadors, Arthur H.
Medlin, Abney B.
Mehaffey, Fred L.
Merck, Horace R.
Mew, J. William
Meyer, Fernando P.
Miller, Orie B.
Miley, Harry
Mitchell, Willie
Mooney, John L.
Montgomery, Isaac M.
Montmoran, Alexander Burnett
Moore, Albert N.
Moore, Egbert Cornwell
Moore, John H.
Moore, Patrick W.
Moore, Percy W.
Morgan, William S.
Morrison, William P.
Mount, Burl Watson
Munn, Gordon B.
Murphy, Ernest W.
Murphy, Henry C.
Murphy, Hugh
Murrell, James T.
Musselwhite, Troy Cornelius
Myers, Isaiah
*Myers, Isaiah
Neeley, Sam
*Neil, Charlie
Nesmith, Ira L.
Nettles, Robert Roy
Newman, Wilbur C.
Nicholas, Joseph J.
Nicholson, George E.
Nims, Howard H.
Nix, George Barney
Nobles, Arthur
Norfleet, Clarence
Obney, Alma Viola
*O'Connor, Charles A.
*Orton, Raymond A.
Overstreet, John C.
Paddock, Earl Lewis
Page, Carleton B.
Palmer, Allison E.
Palmer, Lena M.
Parker, Charles A.
Parker, John L.
Partin, Berry L.
Partin, Henry S.
Partin, Eddie Lee
Patch, George Monrow
Patterson, George B.
Peacock, Lawrence S.
Pedrick, Frank D.
Pell, Floyd
Pell, Willliam M.
Peterson, Brooks
Peterson, Edgar B.
Peterson, Sam
Peterson, Walter A.
Peterson, William
Phillips, Harry C.
Pierce, John F.
Pierson, Wallace
Pike, Harry E.
*Pillans, Perry Porter
Pittman, Ethellyner
Pitzer, Lee W.
*Pope, Ike
Pope, Maynard E.
Porter, Henry A.
Porter, James
Powell, Willie
Prange, Carl A.
Pratt, Joseph C.
Praylor, Luther P.
Prescott, Arthur E.
Prescott, Walton
Price, Gary
Proctor, Thomas J.
Purdom, Glen A.
Quarterman, Jacob A.
Ramsay, Godfrey R.
Raulerson, James H.
Ravener, Henry
Reams, William Oscar
Redditt, Eddie M.
*Reed, Arthur
Reed, Pleman
Reed, Taft
Reeve, Elva L.
Reilly, John F.
Reynolds, Harry
Rice, Eugene
Ridgdill, Rufus W.
Riggins, Charles
Riles, McDonald
Roach, Frank H.
Roamer, James M.
Roberson, Albert
Roberson, Lewis
Robertston, Pierce
Robison, Claude L.
Robinson, Edgar W.
Robinson, Edwin J.
Rochelle, Littleton
Rock, Charles
Rogers, Charles James
Rogers, Littleton F.
Abberger, Ben L.
Akins, Terry T.
Alexander, Fred D.
*Alston, Alex
Anderson, Bryan B.
*Anderson, Carl O.
Anderson, Claude
Anderson, Godfrey T.
Anderson, Leon
Ange, Joseph H.
Arnold, Andrew D.
Arnold, John
Arnold, Michael
Arrants, George Y.
Ashe, Clarence
Asher, Edward
Ashley, Sterling Elliot
Attema, Henry
Austin, Charley
Austin, Edna G.
Austin, Frederick C.
Austin, Robert
Ayers, Preston
Aytes, Junius
Baas, George Albert
Bacon, Frank L.
Baker, Neal
Barlow, Eldridge
Barnes, Gelone
Barnes, John O.
*Barnes, Laurence B.
Barnes, William J.
Barnes, Frederick Woodruff
Barnett, Herschel W.
Bartlett, Gip
Bas, Louis Leon
Baxter, Ludden E.
Beacham, Braxton
Beardall, Harold Martyn
Beardall, William
Beardall, John Reginald
Beasley, Braxton
Beck, Horace
Beeman, Edwin P.
Beggs, James D.
Beman, Edwin Paschal
Benjamin, Thomas
Bennett, Maxie G
Berkins, Clinton A.
Billingsley, Ralph Leon
Black, Carl J.
Blair, Canary
Bode, John A.
Bogart, William Henderson
Boone, David
Bosse, Herman J.
Boston, Maxie E.
Boston, Theodore
Bostrum, Margaret Hazel
Bowden, Turner
Boynton, Leon L.
Braddock, Archer G.
Branch, Payson L.
Branham, John Thomas
Branham, Mack
Braswell, Elijah
Brewer, Paul F.S.
Brittain, James
Broadnax, Love
Brock, Emlon
Brodwater, Thomas Bond
Brooks, Wilson Rebeca
Brooks, Henry
Broughton, Richard
*Brown, Ben B.
Brown, Charley
Brown, Ivan Robert
Brown, Franklin L.
Brown, Horice
Brown, John
*Brown, Stephen L.
Brown, Zack
Bryan, Richard C.
Bryant, Anderson N.
Bryant, James
Bryant, Malcome E.
Bryant, Needham
Buhler, Charles
Buhler, Fritz A.
Bumby, Frank F.
*Bumby, Joseph E.
Bunnell, Maurice F.
Bunyan, Eddie B.
Burden, George Wood
Burnett, Lawrence J.
Burnette, Elmer E.
Bushler, Geo W.
Butler, George W.
Butler, Washington B.
*Campbell, Frank A.
Canada, Perry C.
Carpenter, Archer E.
Carris, Jerome P.
Carson, Nathan B., Jr.
Carter, James W.
Carter, Robert R.
Castle, Willie
Cheatham, Charley
Cheney, Joseph Y.
Cheuer, Asia
Childers, Alford B.
Childers, Thomas Archibald
Clarke, Robert C.
Cobb, Randolph H.
Cochran, Thomas
Coleman, John
Coleman, Willie
Colyer, Joseph Anthony
Connell, Harvey Russell
Cook, Howard L.
*Cooper, Ralph E.
Corbett, Coy
Corbett, James Russel
Cornell, Walter
Cox, Benjamin F.
Cox, Benjamin R.
Cox, Cyrus
*Cox, Robert L.
Crandall, Arthur Henry
Crawford, Ed
Crittenden, William Carl
Crooms, Alex
Culver, Ernest E.
Cummings, William C.
Curry, Linly O.
Curry, Roland Bernard
Dade, Henry
Dade, Robert Hunter Fitzhugh
Dallas, Beatrice
Daniels, Fred O.
Daniels, Levi
Daniels, Martin R.
Datson, Clarence
Davis, Aaron
Davis, Fred J.C.
Davis, Ira Phillips
Davis, John
Davis, John
Davis, Montezuma
Davis, Robert C.
Davis, Wallace Edwin
DeLaney, Sinclair
Demps, Francis A.
Demps, George W.
Dessore, James
*Dickson, Evander G.
Dixon, Albert D.
Dobson, Russell
Dolive, George C.
Dollins, Hugh David
Donnold, William M.
Douglass, Theodore R.
Doyle, Daniel V.
Dozier, Henry
Duck, Robert
Duke, Homer B.
Dunn, Jared Irwin
Dyett, Ralph J.
Dyson, William
Eades, Floyd
Eagerton, Carl Nelson
Edwards, Morris M.
Eichelberger, Lofton W.
Elbert, Henry L.
Ellick, Ammie
Ellis, Ben
Ellis, John
Ellis, Robert
Epps, James
Epps, Sam
Evans, Will
Everitt, Lee Roy
Farr, Leroy H.
Ferris, Josiah D.
Field, Archibald R.
Finley, Charlie Joe
Fish, Hansel D.
Fisher, Joseph D.
Flooding, Homer Harding
Floyd, Bruce
Floyd, Marcus Benjamin
Foard, John J.
Ford, Alfred Banks
Ford, Frank M.
Ford, Roy A.
Ford, Thomas
Fort, John O.
French, Kenneth Sperry
Friedman, Charles H.
Frye, Walter Forest
Fuller, James Kirby
Fuller, Percy Mcdonald
Fuller, Lavinia
Fulton, Russell Paul
Fulton, Russell P.
Funk, Charles O.
Furguson, William
Gainous, Eugene
Galloway, Carrington
Gaskins, Gordon
Gemeinhardt, William A.
Gines, Will
Ginlack, Larnnie
Ginlack, Malcolm
Givens, Walter
Glover, George A.
Golden, Charley
Gonzalez, Alfred
Goolsby, Irving
Gordon, James M.
Goss, Horace
Gould, Stuart Meese
Grant, Farrell
Gray, Benjamin Roy
Green, Ben
Green, Jacob A.
Green, James H.
Green, W. William
*Gregory, Hugh T.
Grover, John A.
Guernsey, Samuel Kendrick
Hall, Rufus
Hamlet, Melvin
Hancock, Oscar R.
Hand, Dewey F.
Hankins, Lafayette S.
Hansel, Dow F.
Hanson, George Dewey
Happersett, Cyril R.
Harper, Ivo W.
Harrell, David V.
Harrel, Oscar
Harris, James H.
Harris, Julian H.
Harrison, John C.
Hart, Alonzo
Hart, Bret
Hartman, Morton M.
Havens, Henry Wilson
Havens, Henry W.
Hawkins, George L.
Hayward, Bosey
Heaton, Vincent Edward
Heffield, Stephen Argyle
Helm, Arthur A.
Heltzen, William Stanley
Henderson, Carl E.
Henderson, John
Henderson, Orville R.
Hewitt, Louis Talley
Hewlett, Thomas W.
Hickman, Charles F.
Hinchey, Oscar L.
Hines, Lovit
Hodge, Sam
Hoffner, Harry A.
Holbrook, John P.
Holland, Frank L.
Holland, James
Hollis, Archer Hawkins
Hon, Paul L.
Hooper, Clyde
Hottenstein, Esther M.
*Houston, Donald
Hubbard, Wade H.
Huddleston, Frank B.
*Hudson, William B.
Hughes, Gordon Sutherland
Hughes, Kimble F.
Hunt, Reuben
*Hunter, William J.
Huppel, Alexander E.
Hurlburt, Gerald Bookstaver
Hurley, John W.
Hyer, Edward Pringle
Hyer, Harry
Hyman, Frank
Ivey, Arthur G.
Jackson, Carl J.
Jackson, Carl Joseph
Jackson, Fred
Jackson, Harvey J.
Jackson, Thomas
James, David
James, Shelly
Jenkins, William
Jennings, Handy
Jernigan, James B.
Jernigan, Letcher C.
Jerry, Calvin
Johns, G.P.
Johns, Henry C.
Johnson, Augustus N.
Johnson, Clarence Amory
Johnson, DeWitt T.
Johnson, Edward Harold
Johnson, John H.
Johnson, Wade
Johnson, Welton Pratt
*Johnson, Will
Jones, Franklin P.
Jones, Sidney
Jordan, James
Jordan, Willie E.
Jump, George F.
Kearney, Hubert N.
Keller, Joe F.
Kendrick, John L.
Kennison, Chester
Kerfoot, Raymond Whitney
Keyes, Cecil M.
Kieser, Walter F.
Kilpatrick, Aaron N.
King, James B.
Kiphuth, Carl W.
Kissam, Edward Whithead
Knight, Edward B.
Knight, Herbert J.
Krulder, Robert Cornelius
Laing, Joe S.
Lantz, Garfield James
Lantz, Solon Mark
Lawton, Lawrence
Lawton, Benjamin Joseph
Lee, Hugh
Lee, Marion
Lee, Thomas G.
Lee, Marion McDonald
Leggett, John
Leonardy, Charlie C.
Levine, Morris I.
Lewis, Avner
Rogers, William R.
Rogers, Willis Newman
Ross, Charles E.
Rouse, John Webster
Rowland, William Marshall
Royal, Clifford B.
Rudicel, Jack
Russell, Cecil Frederick
Rutherford, Burton
Rutherford, Charles
Rutherford, Joseph
Rutherford, Robert H.
Sahlberg, Eric
Sanborn, Leon Norman
Sanders, Morris
Saults, Robert
Saunders, Charles O.
Saunders, Harold Romine
*Saunders, George Raymond
Schmidt, John
Schnur, Florence C.
Scott, Bailey
Scott, Johnnie P.
Scott, Joseph
See, Harold B.
Self, Henry F.
Sellers, Olfred LeLeon
Sellers, William
Seymour, Rolla Newton
Shader, Isadore
Shader, Myer
Sharp, Hamilton
Shearer, Robert Mitchell
Shreve, Edwin C.
Shuler, Richard F.
Siever, Donavon L.
Simmons, Arthur W.
Simmons, Clarence
Simmons, Oscar W.
Simmons, Robert W.
*Simmons, William C.
Simmons, William O.
Simpson, Archibald
Singleton, Wesley
Singleton, Willie
Sjoblom, Harry L.
Slauter, M. Juanita
Smith, Edward J.
Smith, N. Kay
*Smith, Olar
Snook, Benson R.
Sparrow, Godfrey H.
Spates, Arthur
Speir, Edward K.
Sphaler, Hollis
Spinks, Clide
Springer, John R.
Stallings, Eugene
Starbird, Roy Linwood
Steward, Thomas M.
Stewart, Harold G.
Stokes, Arthur
Stokes, Nathan
Sturdevant, Graham
Swift, Milne Barker
Sylvester, Robert H.
*Tamsitt, George R.
Tanner, Paul G.
Taylor, Robert H.
*Taylor, Roderick Perry
Taylor, Wayman
Taylor, Wilson K.
Thomas, Augustus
Thomas, Herbert
Thomas, James
Thomas, James H.
Thomas, William H.
Thomson, Edgar R.
Thorpe, Thomas J.
Thurman, Alvin H.
Tindall, Fred
Tolbert, Joseph
Townsel, George
Townsend, Luther Calvin
Tresher, Frederick H.
Tucker, John Walter
Tucker, Richard Theodore
Turnage, Louis
Van Buskirk, Robert Justin
Vaughan, Andrew Jackson
Vaughan, James Monroe
Vick, John E.
Vick, Oscar C.
Vivian, Cyril A.
Voorhis, Harry M.
Wagner, Ernest Samuel
Waldron, Harold E.
Waldrop, William A.
Walker, Eunice B.
Walker, George
Walker, Johnnie
Walker, Toney
Wallace, Frank A.
Wallace, Jesse
Wallace, Will
Walton, McKinley
Walton, Thomas
Ware, Cecil
Warman, William E.
Warner, Russell C.
Warren, Jeff
Warren, Robert
Washington, Eddie
Washington, Lee
Washington, Solomon
Way, Walter De Laney
Weeks, James R.
Welch, Peter William
Wells, John E.
Wesson, John
Westbrook, James E.
Whilden, Clarence L.
Whitaker, Marion H.
White, Bradford Williamson
White, James O.
White, Lovell E.
White, Richard Ray
White, Stephen C.
White, Willie
Whittaker, John
Wichtendahl, Ludolf R.
Wideman, Emil
Wigfall, John N.
Wiggins, Robert E.
Wilder, William Kemper
Wildman, Thomas N.
Wilhite, John A.
Williams, Alan G.
Williams, Albert W.
Williams, Chaney
Williams, Charles J.
Williams, Eldridge
Williams, Frank
Williams, James Peel
Williams, John A.
Williams, Junius
Williams, Leonard
Williams, Raleigh
Williams, Warren
Wilson, Alonza D.
Wilson, Dwelley
Wilson, James B.
Wilson, Neburn
Wilson, Roscoe J.
Wilson, Vernon
Wilson, William J.B.
Windham, James E.
*Wofford, Howard M.
Wofford, John T.
Wollam, Victor Bishop
Wood, William J.
Woods, William
*Wright, George
Wright, Gordon G.
*Wright, Walton W.
Yates, Clarence
Yates, Robert B.
Yothers, Maud
Zapf, Joseph F.
Ziegler, George Clarence
Zow, Lander
DIVE DEEPER
Watch the movie that inspired this incredible opera, and see clips from the world premiere production of Silent Night featuring Opera Orlando’s own general director Gabriel Preisser.