Jake Heggie
Jake Heggie is the American composer of the operas Moby Dick (libretto:
Gene Scheer), Dead Man Walking (libretto: Terrence McNally), Three Decembers
(libretto: Scheer), The End of the Affair (libretto: Heather McDonald),
To Hell and Back (libretto: Scheer), and the stage works For a Look or a
Touch (libretto: Scheer) and At the Statue of Venus (libretto: McNally).
He has also composed more than 200 art songs, as well as orchestral, choral,
and chamber music. His recent recording of songs and duets, Passing By,
features performances by Isabel Bayrakdarian, Zheng Cao, Joyce DiDonato,
Susan Graham, Paul Groves, Keith Phares, and Frederica von Stade.
Heggie is the 2010–11 guest artist-in-residence at the University of North
Texas at Denton, where he will compose his first symphony, based on several
Ahab monologues from the novel Moby Dick. The “Ahab” Symphony will receive
its premiere in 2012 with tenor Richard Croft as soloist. Other current projects
include song commissions from Carnegie Hall (for Joyce DiDonato), San Francisco
Performances (for DiDonato and the Alexander String Quartet), The Dallas
Opera (for baritone Nathan Gunn), and Houston Grand Opera (to commemorate
the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks); as well as a one-act opera for
chorus for the John Alexander Singers and the Pacific Chorale, and a new
version of For a Look or a Touch that features the 200-voice Seattle Men’s
Chorus.
Heggie’s operas have been performed to tremendous acclaim internationally
in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Ireland, Austria, South Africa,
and by more than a dozen American opera companies, including the San Francisco
Opera, New York City Opera, Houston Grand Opera, The Dallas Opera, Seattle
Opera, Ft. Worth Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Austin Lyric
Opera and Madison Opera. Dead Man Walking has been performed nearly 150 times
since its San Francisco premiere in 2000, making it one of the most-performed
new American operas. Moby Dick received its 2010 world premiere at The Dallas
Opera and was co-commissioned by Dallas with four other companies: San Francisco
Opera, San Diego Opera, Calgary Opera, and the State Opera of South Australia.
* bio from http://www.jakeheggie.com/
* photo from Avie Records
To learn more about Jake’s newest release on Avie Records, click here.
