Jake Heggie’s high-octane 23/24 season
"Heggie's way with music is consistently illuminating, full of surprises."
–Gramophone Magazine
JAKE HEGGIE’S HIGH-OCTANE 2023/24 SEASON
Dead Man Walking Opens Metropolitan Opera Season
Simulcast Worldwide to Cinemas Live in HD
September 26 – October 21, 2023
World Premiere Intelligence Opens Houston Grand Opera Season
October 20 – November 3, 2023
World Premiere & Global Tour of Joshua Bell Commission The Elements
Hamburg, Hong Kong, New York in September 2023
Chicago, Seattle in June 2024
World Premiere & U.S. Tour of Before It All Goes Dark
Music of Remembrance in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago in May 2024
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – August 2, 2023 – Recognized by the Wall Street Journal as “arguably the world’s most popular 21st-century opera and art song composer,” Jake Heggie is set to deliver a 2023/24 season filled with high-profile premieres and top-tier artistic collaborations. From a pair of opening night galas at the Metropolitan Opera and Houston Grand Opera to orchestral premieres with superstar violinist Joshua Bell in Hamburg, Hong Kong, and New York, Heggie’s works will offer audiences a wide range of perspectives and possibilities.
Dead Man Walking
Metropolitan Opera / New Production / Opens September 26, 2023
Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as the “most celebrated American opera of the century,” Dead Man Walking receives its Metropolitan Opera premiere on opening night of the Met’s 23/24 season. Based on the iconic memoir by Sister Helen Prejean and with a libretto by the late Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally, Dead Man Walking is a deeply human story of transformation and redemption – and though the death penalty raises the stakes at every turn, the piece never dictates how audiences should feel. A bold new Ivo van Hove production runs with nine performances through October 21, 2023, with the ninth show simulcast Live in HD to cinemas in more than 70 countries worldwide. Starring Joyce DiDonato, Ryan McKinny, Susan Graham, and Latonia Moore, with Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium.
Intelligence
Houston Grand Opera / World Premiere / Opens October 20, 2023
Created with director/choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and librettist Gene Scheer, Intelligence is based on the little-known true story of two women who infiltrated the Confederate White House during the American Civil War. The work receives its world premiere on opening night of Houston Grand Opera’s 23/24 season, conducted by Kwamé Ryan and starring Jamie Barton, Janai Brugger, and J’Nai Bridges. Brooklyn-based dance troupe Urban Bush Women infuses African ancestral dance, an art form rarely experienced in grand opera, in five performances through November 3, 2023.
The Elements
Joshua Bell / World Premiere / Tours September 2023 and June 2024
Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell commissioned five renowned American composers – Jake Heggie, Jennifer Higdon, Edgar Meyer, Jessie Montgomery, and Kevin Puts – to dedicate themselves to the five Elements that form the basis of Aristotle’s Greek philosophy and traditional Chinese medicine: Fire, Air, Water, Ether, and Earth, respectively. Each composer has contributed one movement to this suite, which will tour major orchestras around the globe. The Elements receives its world premiere with Alan Gilbert conducting the opening night of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra season in Hamburg on September 1-2, 2023; the Asian premiere takes place September 8-9, 2023, with opening night of the Hong Kong Philharmonic season conducted by Jaap van Zweden; and the U.S. premiere will be given by the New York Philharmonic, also led by van Zweden. Subsequent performances include the Midwest premiere with Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Juraj Valčuha, June 13-15, 2024, and the West Coast premiere with Seattle Symphony, led by Marin Alsop on June 20 and 22, 2024.
Before It All Goes Dark
Music of Remembrance / World Premiere / Tours May 2024
Based on a compelling true story first reported by Howard Reich in the Chicago Tribune, this one-act opera follows Mac, a disabled Vietnam veteran who learns that he is the heir to a priceless art collection, stolen by the Nazis from an ancestor he didn’t know he had. Before It All Goes Dark is Music of Remembrance’s fifth commission of Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer. The duo’s artistic partnership with MOR began in 2007 with For a Look or a Touch, believed to be the first major musical work to explore the Third Reich’s persecution of gay people. Before It All Goes Dark receives its world premiere at Seattle’s Benaroya Hall on May 19, 2024, starring bass-baritone Ryan McKinny and mezzo Megan Marino, with members of the Seattle Symphony under the baton of Joseph Mechavich. The Erich Parce production travels to San Francisco’s Presidio Theatre on May 22, 2024, and concludes with two performances at Chicago’s Studebaker Theater, presented in collaboration with Chicago Opera Theater May 25-26, 2024.
“I’m overjoyed – and a bit overwhelmed – by the extraordinary convergence of so many special projects this season,” said composer Jake Heggie. “These works feature some of my favorite colleagues, as well as remarkable new collaborators. I’m especially moved that my first opera, Dead Man Walking, will open the Metropolitan Opera season, while my most recent opera, Intelligence, will open the Houston Grand Opera season. It’s genuinely beyond what I could’ve imagined, and I’m so grateful to be able to share these important stories with audiences around the world.”
Dead Man Walking
Metropolitan Opera / House Premiere
Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin / Steven Osgood
Director: Ivo van Hove
Sister Helen Prejean: Joyce DiDonato
Joseph De Rocher: Ryan McKinny
Mrs. Patrick De Rocher: Susan Graham
Sister Rose: Latonia Moore
Tuesday, September 26, 2023 @ 6:30pm *Gala
Saturday, September 30, 2023 @ 1:00pm
Tuesday, October 3, 2023 @ 7:30pm
Friday, October 6, 2023 @ 8:00pm
Sunday, October 8, 2023 @ 3:00pm
Thursday, October 12, 2023 @ 7:30pm
Sunday, October 15, 2023 @ 3:00pm
Wednesday, October 18, 2023 @ 7:00pm
Saturday, October 21, 2023 @ 1:00pm *Live in HD
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
Tickets from $47
www.metopera.org/season/2023-24-season/dead-man-walking
Intelligence
Houston Grand Opera / World Premiere
Conductor: Kwamé Ryan
Director: Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
Elizabeth van Lew: Jamie Barton
Mary Jane Bowser: Janai Brugger
Lucinda: J’Nai Bridges
Callie Van Lew: Caitlin Lynch
Friday, October 20, 2023 @ 7:00pm *Gala
Sunday, October 22, 2023 @ 2:00pm
Saturday, October 28, 2023 @ 7:30pm
Wednesday, November 1, 2023 @ 7:30pm
Friday, November 3, 2023 @ 7:30pm
Wortham Theater Center
501 Texas Avenue
Houston, Texas
Tickets from $20
www.houstongrandopera.org/on-stage/intelligence
The Elements: Suite for Orchestra and Violin
Joshua Bell, Violin / World Premiere
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra
Conductor: Alan Gilbert
Friday, September 1, 2023 @ 8:00pm
Saturday, September 2, 2023 @ 6:00pm
Elbphilharmonie Grand Hall
Platz d. Deutschen Einheit 4
Hamburg, Germany
Tickets from € 64
www.ndr.de/orchester_chor/elbphilharmonieorchester/konzerte/Opening-Night-2023-NDR-Elbphilarmonie-Orchester-mit-Joshua-Bell,openingnight580.html
Hong Kong Philharmonic
Conductor: Jaap van Zweden
Friday, September 8, 2023 @ 8:00pm
Saturday, September 9, 2023 @ 8:00pm
Hong Kong Cultural Centre
10 Salisbury Rd
Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Tickets from $480 HKD
www.hkphil.org/concert/season-opening-jaap-and-joshua-bell
New York Philharmonic
Conductor: Jaap van Zweden
Friday, September 29, 2023 @ 8:00pm
Saturday, September 30, 2023 @ 8:00pm
Sunday, October 1, 2023 @ 2:00pm
David Geffen Hall
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
Tickets from $56
nyphil.org/concerts-tickets/2324/joshua-bell
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Juraj Valčuha
Thursday, June 13, 2024 @ 7:30pm
Friday, June 14, 2024 @ 1:30pm
Saturday, June 15, 2024 @ 7:30pm
Symphony Center
220 S Michigan Ave
Chicago, Illinois
Tickets from $49
cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/the-elements-with-joshua-bell
Seattle Symphony
Conductor: Marin Alsop
Thursday, June 20, 2024 @ 7:30pm
Saturday, June 22, 2024 @ 8:00pm
Benaroya Hall
200 University Street
Seattle, Washington
Tickets from $60
www.seattlesymphony.org/en/concerttickets/calendar/2023-2024/23sub21
Before It All Goes Dark
Music of Remembrance / World Premiere
Conductor: Joseph Mechavich
Director: Erich Parce
Mac: Ryan McKinny
Sally/Misha/Emil: Megan Marino
Chamber Ensemble
Demarre McGill, flute
Laura DeLuca, clarinet
Mikhail Shmidt, violin
Susan Gulkis Assadi, viola
Eric Han, cello
Jonathan Green, double bass
Jessica Choe, piano
Seattle, Washington
Sunday, May 19, 2024 @ 4:30pm
Benaroya Hall
200 University Street
Tickets $50-65
musicofremembrance.org/dark
San Francisco, California
Wednesday, May 22, 2024 @ 7:30pm
Presidio Theatre
99 Moraga Avenue
Tickets $40-75
musicofremembrance.org/darksf
Chicago, Illinois
Saturday, May 25, 2024 @ 7:30pm
Sunday, May 26, 2024 @ 3pm
Studebaker Theater
410 South Michigan Avenue
Tickets $40-75
cot.org/season/dark
About Jake Heggie
American composer Jake Heggie is best known for Dead Man Walking (2000), the most widely performed new opera of the last 20 years, with a libretto by Terrence McNally, and his critically acclaimed operas Moby-Dick (2010), Three Decembers (2008), and It’s A Wonderful Life (2016), all with libretti by Gene Scheer. In addition to 10 full-length operas and numerous one-acts, Heggie has composed more than 300 art songs, as well as concerti, chamber music, choral, and orchestral works. His compositions have been performed on five continents, and he regularly collaborates with some of the world’s most beloved artists as both composer and pianist.
jakeheggie.com
Portrait by James Niebuhr
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