How my story about Nazi-looted art inspired an opera by one of America's greatest composers

JL;DR SUMMARY A series of articles by Howard Reich published in the Chicago Tribune more than two decades ago about Nazi-looted art has inspired an opera titled "Before It All Goes Dark" by renowned composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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