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Glimpses of ‘Lily,’ a vanished opera

A fresh hearing for lost Kirchner score

By Jeremy Eichler

 |  Globe Staff  

  March 25, 2012

The distinguished composer Leon Kirchner, who died in 2009, left behind a deeply respected body of work, but his sole opera, “Lily,’’ was not a success at its 1977 premiere. The work, based on Saul Bellow’s “Henderson the Rain King,’’ has virtually disappeared. Some of its earliest champions will reunite at New England Conservatory on April 2 for a performance of excerpts from “Lily,’’ offering a rare chance to take the measure of some arresting music that is ripe for rediscovery.

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