Amahl and the Night Visitors
Land Rover Hartford
Hartford
Dec. 6, 2025
When the Uber pulled into the parking lot of the Land Rover dealership on Weston Street in Hartford, I double-checked the flyer for the event. An opera concert at a car dealership? That couldn’t be right.
As I got out of the car, instead of a showroom full of luxury vehicles, there were rows of folding chairs were neatly arranged in front of a piano. An oboist and a flutist were tuning their instruments. They had transformed the dealership into a concert hall.
The performance of Amahl and the Night Visitors is the result of an unorthodox collaboration between Opera Connecticut and the Mitchell Auto Group. In its second year, the performance is the brainchild of Mark Mitchell, president and co-owner of the group. He also happens to be an opera singer who traces his love of the genre back to watching Gilbert and Sullivan’s light opera productions with his grandmother when he was 17.
My own love for opera began when I was around the same age, but in a different way. I was introduced to the beauty of opera thanks to the famous scene in Final Fantasy VI. Still, I’d never had the chance to attend a real opera performance until now, which is exactly why Mark Mitchell hosts the concert free of charge.
“We've been doing this the last couple years, which is basically just to support opera in the Hartford area,” he said. “So we do this as part of our Land Rover Hartford involvement in the community here, and to help a new audience get into opera. It's something different, that's for sure.”
‘Something different’ is an understatement. As far as I can tell, Land Rover Hartford is the only place in the country, maybe even the whole world, to be an active car dealership that also doubles as an opera venue. (he closest comparison I could find was a performance in a former dealership.) Multiple people told me that the high ceilings and flat surfaces in the showroom provide excellent acoustics for opera.
Even the opera chosen for the performance was something different. Amahl and the Night Visitors is a one-act that tells the story of Amahl, a young disabled boy who lives with his mother. The two are visited by the three kings on their way to welcome the soon-to-be-born Jesus into the world. Amahl, written by Gian Carlo Menotti, was the first opera specifically written for American television. It was first performed live on NBC in 1951.
But enough preamble; how was the show? In a word: incredible. The performers were only a couple feet away from the audience, giving almost everyone in the room the kind of front row access you typically have to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for. The acoustics were excellent too.
The favorable staging was good, but it was the performers themselves who blew us away. Teryn Kuzma played the titular role of Amahl, and her glittering soprano voice captured the energy of the youthful protagonist. Amahl’s mother was played by Zhanna Alkhazova, also a soprano. Her strong, expansive voice filled the entire room when she sang, offering a counterbalance to Kuzma’s sweet higher tones.
The three kings, performed by Thomas Woodman, Kyle Torrence and Andrew Boisvert, delivered the bass and baritone. I wouldn’t believe that such deep, clear and powerful sounds could come from a human voice if I didn’t see it live. They managed to convey the three distinct personalities of the kings, even injecting a sense of humor and playfulness into their regal deportment. All while singing, of course. Mark Quehl also performed, as the page for the three kings.
As wonderful as the singers were, the accompaniment was just as accomplished. Justin Tan played the oboe, Emma Ross played the flute, and maestro Doris Lang Kosloff was on the piano. The three produced a sound so full and lovely that at times it felt like an entire orchestra was backing up the singers. Their performance moved the characters and the audience, setting the aural stage for each scene and conveying the meaning of what we were watching.
One aspect of live opera that I wasn’t prepared for was how much acting is involved. I didn’t expect the performers to stand like statues during the opera, but I was surprised to see that the performance was basically a play. Characters jumped, lunged, laughed, cried, danced and everything else you’d expect in a play. It was incredibly impressive, and reinforced how talented every performer is.
I could go on and on about the brilliance of the production, from the inspired decision to host opera in a dealership, to the wonderful music and performance, to the volunteers from Opera Connecticut and Land Rover Hartford who worked hard to ensure that every guest, from tiny babies to the elderly in wheelchairs, were properly accommodated. I wish there was another performance because I would go back, and take everyone I know with me. It was that good, and the perfect place to get my first taste of the opera.
NEXT
Jamil is taking the rest of the weekend off. See you next week!
