The Book of Gold

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According to Dale Monsen, Director of the BYU School of Music, we have "assembled an array of the finest LDS talent - a composer, a poet, stage directors and managers, professional singers, ensemble conductors, scenic and costume and lighting designers, a broadcast production team, and our own music students (among the finest in the world) - to create something wonderful about one of the greatest events in the history of the world: the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the Prophet Joseph Smith."

The Book of Gold is an original opera production with libretto by Glen Nelson and music by C. Murray Boren commissioned by the BYU School of Music. It features performances, by professional singers Ariel Bybee as Lucy Mack Smith, Jennifer Welch-Babidge as Emma Smith and Darrell Babidge as Joseph Smith, plus primary roles by outstanding students.

"Glen Nelson's libretto and Murray Boren's music are beautifully poetic," says stage director, Rodger D. Sorensen. "They do not attempt to create realistic interpretations of the First Vision, Moroni's visits to Joseph, the translating and printing of the Book of Mormon, nor the lives of Joseph, Emma, or Lucy. Rather they poetically explore significant moments in these world-changing events and people.

The style of this production similarly does not seek to represent these happenings and characters literally. The setting is symbolic. There are no windows or walls, just door frames, tables and chairs. ...We suggest the action... There are some symbolic vertical structures on stage at all times. In one scene they might be trees, in another a coat rack, in another a pantry, or they may represent the buildings of Palmyra.

The Book of Gold is a two-hour program that explores faith and belief... belief in that which we cannot see.