By KATE TAYLOR [NY Sun, 2 June 2008]

The opera "Die Soldaten," written in 1965 by the German composer Bernd Alois Zimmermann, is nearly impossible to perform. With its huge orchestra, its intensely difficult 12-tone score, and a narrative in which past, present, and future overlap — Zimmermann once imagined it being performed on 12 stages to distinguish the work's times and locales — the piece has intimidated many an artistic director.