East Palo Alto housing advocate William Webster appears in a new role, as the composer of The Little Match Girl, to receive its world premiere on June 20 at a Montparnasse music festival in Paris.
Webster composed the opera, based on the Hans Christian Andersen story, in the 1970s, when studying music at Stanford.
Sharon Davis and Julia Wade recorded the opera in Webster's studio, a copy of which was sent to a former Stanford schoolmate friend, American poet Roger Dickinson-Brown, who lives in Paris. He advocated the work and eventually got it produced, to be performed by French singers.
Webster told Daily News columnist Bonnie Eslinger that he would like to see his composition performed locally, with proceeds benefiting East Palo Alto residents.
"This story of The Little Match Girl is so relevant to the themes of struggling for survival and existence and homelessness," Webster said.