Walter Huff, conductor

This one-act opera is the sixth composed by Stephen Paulus, one of the USA's more prolific composers; it is the third he has written in partnership with librettist Michael Dennis Browne. His style is tonal, with clear melodies well adapted to vocal music. The harmonies are of the late twentieth century, but the music is audience-friendly. The story is based on a short story by the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, who had heard it as a folk tale related by one Shchegelenkov, an itinerant story-teller:

A bishop travels to a remote island because he has heard that three holy hermits live there, and believes they could benefit from his religious instruction. He spends a difficult day trying to get them to memorize The Lord's Prayer. He returns to his boat and is some distance from the island when the hermits realize they have forgotten part of the Prayer. They run across the water to the astonished bishop, apologize for their stupidity, and ask to be reminded. The bishp replies that God is obviously pleased with the way the three have always been praying, and bids them go back and continue. Happily, they walk back across the waters to their island.

The opera also includes a chorus of pilgrims who are travelling with the bishop; their part almost entirely uses words from the Russian Orthodox liturgy, and Browne also added some female characters to produce a balanced cast