Another nonmusical highlight of the trip: a witty, revelatory lecture on the writer Flannery O'Connor, presented at her birthplace by Christopher Hope, the distinguished novelist and poet, who is also Daniel Hope's father.
In writing an opera for young people around the ages of his own two children (who are 6 and 10), Mr. Bruce said he gave the work the same care and attention, if not more, as previous works intended for violinist DanielHope ("The Given Note, " a chamber work from 2011) or Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble ("Cut the Rug, " from 2013).