(Credit: Karen Almond)

The Metropolitan Opera is set to open its 2023–24 Live in HD season with Jake Heggie’s “Dead Man Walking” on Oct. 21, 2023.

The opera is based on Sister Helen Prejean’s memoir which sees the nun fight for the soul of a condemned murderer on death row.

The production is conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguinand stars mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato as Sister Helen, bass-baritone Ryan McKinny as death-row inmate Joseph De Rocher, soprano Latonia Moore as Sister Rose, and mezzo-soprano Susan Graham. Ivo van Hove conducts the production.

Gary Halvorson will direct the Live in HD presentation for cinemas with Rhiannon Giddens serving as host.

The transmission will also include an intermission feature filmed at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Led by Sister Helen and DiDonato and in association with Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections program, members of the opera’s cast and music staff, together with some of the resident men at Sing Sing, rehearsed and presented an abridged concert version of “Dead Man Walking” at the correctional facility.

When the opera opened, OperaWire stated that, “Joyce DiDonato & Ryan McKinny Shine in Ivo Van Hove’s Production.”