“The works of Gilbert and Sullivan have been imprinted in Winter’s noggin since he was a boy in Oregon. He devoured recordings of the British team’s operettas and became intimately acquainted with Gilbert’s librettos, including ‘Thespis,’ which hovered in limbo after all but two of Sullivan’s songs disappeared. A few years ago Winter decided to ‘complete’ the score with his own music.
“The result is music in the style of Sullivan and other operetta titans.
“The Ohio Light Opera could boast of having presented every single one of the extant Gilbert and Sullivan pieces. Winter sent his score to artistic director James Stuart and half-jokingly said, ‘Now you really can boast that you’ve done them all.’
“Winter heard his ‘Thespis’ in the flesh for the first time two weeks ago during an Ohio Light Opera orchestra rehearsal.
“‘I was euphoric for days,’ he says.”