Turandot: A Night at the Opera with Christopher Browner ’12
Turandot: A Night at the Opera with Christopher Browner ’12

Taft’s popular “A Night at the Opera” program returns to campus April 12 with Christopher Browner ’12, senior editor at New York’s Metropolitan Opera.

Taft’s popular “A Night at the Opera” program returns to campus this week with Christopher Browner ’12, senior editor at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. Browner will take the audience on a journey through Giacamo Puccini's final opera, Turandot; he will be joined by performers from the Met’s young artist program. The event takes place in Taft’s Choral Room on the main campus Friday, April 12 at 7 pm. The program is free and open to the public; tickets are not required.

Turandot is a three-act opera set in China. It tells the story of Prince Calaf, who falls in love with Princess Turandot. To win her hand, suitors must solve three riddles; execution awaits those who answer who do not answer correctly. Despite passing the test, the princess refuses to marry Calaf. As the tale unfolds, Calaf presents the princess with a challenge of her own.

Turandot remained unfinished at the time of Puccini’s death in 1924. The music was completed posthumously by Franco Alfano, allowing for a 1926 debut. Browner’s talk at Taft, along with pieces from the show performed by young Met artists, will serve as an insightful and enthusiastic introduction to Turndot, on stage at The Met through June 7. The show features Franco Zeffirelli’s “dazzling vision of mythic China with soprano Elena Pankratova making her Met debut as the legendary—and lethal—title princess, opposite tenor SeokJong Baek as the valiant prince who puts his life on the line to win her love.”

A lifelong opera fan, Browner still remembers the first show he saw at The Met as a child; he also remembers the seat he sat in.

“As the orchestra was tuning and the chandeliers were rising up to the ceiling, I grabbed my dad’s hand—my heart was beating out of my chest because I was so excited.”

As a Taft student, Christopher went to The Met a dozen or so times each year—even more as a student and opera critic for his campus newspaper at Columbia University. Browner was a music major, and directed operas with student groups. He apprenticed with the Santa Fe Opera, studied Italian, and visited the great opera houses across Europe. His work as a senior editor at The Met is the culmination of a lifetime spent pursuing his passion—one he is thrilled to share each year with audiences at Taft.

Performance photo and show notes courtesy metopera.org

Be Genuine: Convocation 2018
Be Genuine: Convocation 2018

Headmaster Willy MacMullen '78 welcomed students, faculty, and staff back to campus during Thursday's Convocation, and opened the 2018-19 academic year with a message that is both timely and, it seems, timeless. Referencing the school's 1918 Student HandbookMacMullen points to twenty bits of sage advice—"general admonitions"—penned by founder and headmaster Horace Dutton Taft.

"Some of the book seems, for lack of better words, 'endearing' or even 'cute....' But there is also wisdom for all times, and a challenge for us," said MacMullen. "In all, there are twenty admonitions, but here's the last: Be genuine. Don't try to make others think you are different from what you really are."

And while the advice carries weight for each individual in the school community, it is, MacMullen believes, much more.

"I think the admonition is more than just advice for the reader," MacMullen says. "I like to think that he ends with this because it really is a message for the entire school, a claim on what he knew to be essential in creating the kind of school community he aspired towards, because in order for every student to be able to be genuine, to let others see you for what you really are—well, then something really beautiful and challenging has to happen."

And happen, he says, through three suppositions: that there are no outsiders here; that it is our high standards that make us special; and that each student can effectively meet those high standards.

"If the year ended, and each of you were able to say, 'I felt I was my genuine self,' and as importantly, you could add, 'I helped others be their genuine selves'—well, that would make this a very special place indeed, a place with no outsiders, high standards, and complete faith. That's my goal for the year, for myself and for all of us, and for that opportunity, and for your efforts as teachers and students, I am deeply grateful." 

Read the Headmaster's full Convocation address here.