Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, the channel now known as TLC was still known as TLC, but back then it was an actual acronym, imagine that, for The Learning Channel. In fact, here, have your mind blown even more: TLC was founded by the government. In conjunction with NASA. The Seventies were different. Then the urge for privatization took root, and now, thirty years later, airtime is given to things like I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant and Toddlers & Tiaras. If you don’t know what those things are, count yourself fortunate. TLC has also broadcast Sister Wives, which was a show about four women, all sisters, all of whom were married, sort of, to the same man. A couple of years ago, there was a lot of stickiness surrounding the family, and the show, but that all seems, now, mostly to have blown over, if the recent premiere of Season 3 is anything to go by. (Also, the family now lives in Vegas, and no one cares how many wives you have if you live in Vegas.) So Nico Muhly, who is that rarest of creatures, a working contemporary composer, wrote a chamber opera about them. It debuted in New York last fall at Gotham Chamber Opera; now Philly gets its chance to take a look, at the Kimmel starting Friday night. (FULL ARTICLE: David Patrick Stearns, Philadelphia Inquirer)