Can a new opera join the pantheon of classic works? Utah Opera's production of 'Silent Night' tries to crack the canon.

People who aren’t regular opera fans think of opera as old music — usually works by the 19th century masters. But there are efforts to make 21st century operas, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning 2011 work “Silent Night,” about the 1914 Christmas armistice during World War I, is one such opera that is being produced all over the country — including this month at Utah Opera.

I talked to the composer, Kevin Puts (who wrote the opera with librettist Mark Campbell), as well as Utah Opera’s artistic director and some of the singers who will perform the (comparatively) new work. Read about it here at sltrib.com.