The piece is scored for only two singers and 15 instruments and runs a mere 40 minutes.
The libretto, by playwright Martin Crimp, offers a dark retelling of the fairy tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The staging by Daniel Jeanneteau is minimalist (there will be no medieval townscapes or scurrying rats); the two singers, wearing ordinary concert clothes, serve as narrators and enact all the roles.
Those two cast members are the artists for whom the work was written: soprano Anu Komsi and contralto Hilary Summers; accompanying them will be the acclaimed Frankfurt-based group Ensemble Modern, with Franck Ollu conducting.
To fill out the program, a pair of Benjamin's instrumental works will precede the opera: Viola, Viola (for a pair of the titular instruments) and Three Miniatures for solo violin.
Into the Little Hill will have three performances, July 26-28, at 8:30 p.m. in the Lynch Theater at John Jay College (10th Avenue and West 58th Street in Manhattan). Information and tickets are available at www.lincolncenter.org.