The Trilogy – Juilliard Opera Center (2008) – The New York Times

One-Act Operas Fashioned Into a Marital Morality Tale

On Wednesday night Mr. Conlon conducted the gifted singers of the Juilliard Opera Center and the dynamic Juilliard Orchestra in the premiere of “Trilogy: 3 One-Act Portraits of Marriage.” This 90-minute entertainment, without an intermission, has been fashioned from little-known one-act works, two Russian and one German.

Rothschild’s Violin, the special discovery of this trilogy, is an affecting tragedy. As conceived by Mr. Conlon and realized by James Marvel, the director who created this production for Juilliard, the trilogy becomes a morality tale about marriage. Cohesion among these stylistically different one-act works was enhanced through the production, which relies on a strikingly simple set: just the framed outline of the corner of a room, with a large, visible video screen on the back wall. By bringing in period furniture, the set allows fluid transitions from one story to the next.

– Anthony Tommassini, The New York Times