“Whaddya mean it’s not a Christmas opera? The first two acts happen on Christmas Eve!” These fighting words poured out of the Peabody Conservatory’s opera studio in Baltimore one day, many moons ago, as I walked past an open door. It was John Lehmeyer, the high-spirited (and legendary) costume designer who Peabody had convinced to direct the staging of entire productions. He was jawing with a conducting student — a man who today has a sprawling international career.