Baltimore Opera Company

Study Guide

Dead Man Walking

About the Composer – Jake Heggie

Jake Heggie was born in Florida in 1961 and raised in Ohio . After receiving his degree in piano performance from UCLA, he set out on a career as a performing pianist, working with such singers as Frederica von Stade, Susan Graham, Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson, Dawn Upshaw, Thomas Hampson, among others. As his career advanced, Heggie began to gain a reputation for the quality of his art songs, which singers quickly began to commission from him. In 1993, he moved up the coast to San Francisco , and his growing notoriety as a songwriter led San Francisco Opera to commission from him his first opera: Dead Man Walking , with a libretto by famed American playwright Terrence McNally based on Sister Helen Prejean's best-selling memoir. After its premiere at San Francisco 's War Memorial Opera House, the opera began an astounding series of subsequent performances across the nation, including productions at Opera Pacific, Cincinnati , New York City Opera, Austin , Michigan , Pittsburgh , and even South Australia .

Heggie's second opera, The End of the Affair , was written to a libretto by Heather McDonald and premiered at Houston Grand Opera in 2000. His songs, which number well over 200, continue to be performed by singers worldwide. Upcoming pieces include “At the Statue of Venus” (a collaboration with Terrence McNally to be performed by Renée Fleming); several song cycles for a number of internationally renowned singers; and a song cycle for tenor, baritone, and strings for the Ravinia Festival.

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