‘The Enchanted Island’ at the Metropolitan Opera

NYTimes.com: Forget “Auld Lang Syne.” The best music to ring in a new year is “Now a bright new day is dawning,” the joyous chorus that ends “The Enchanted Island,” the inventive concoction that had its premiere on Saturday night at the Metropolitan Opera. The music for this finale is lifted from the “Hallelujah” chorus that concludes Handel’s oratorio “Judas Maccabaeus.” The new words are by the librettist Jeremy Sams, who devised the story and assembled this fanciful, clever and touching pastiche by selecting arias, ensembles, choruses and dances from works by Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau and lesser-known Baroque composers.