(Credit: Brian Paulette) Experimentation and adventurous programming are at the heart of The Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s Explorations series. A recent departure for the company, brainchild of General Director and CEO Deborah Sandler, and held in its fine new production facility in the Crossroads district downtown, the series also provides excellent opportunities to showcase the company’s Resident Artists, and {…}
Opera America has announced that it has awarded $220,000 to develop new American operas with seven different companies. The recipients of the grants include The American Opera Project and Seagle Music Colony, Beth Morrison Projects, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Diego Opera, and The Dallas Opera. The American Opera Project and Seagle Music Colony are working together {…}
It’s Pride Month, so to celebrate we return to the series we began two years. This time we celebrate some of the great composers and librettists of today who have made a great impact in the opera world and whose works have given a voice to the voiceless. Jake Heggie Heggie is one of the most prolific composers of the {…}
Jake Heggie is one of the significant opera composers of the 21st century. Born on March 31, 1961, Heggie grew up in Columbus, Ohio and started studying the piano at age seven. After his father’s suicide in 1972, Heggie began writing music and his family relocated to the San Francisco Bay area. He studied at the UCLA for both his {…}
“Moby Dick” wasn’t a hit in Melville’s day. Instead, the author remained a customs officer until his death, his literary genius living mostly underground and his epic masterpiece under wraps until the 20thcentury, when it was “discovered.” Composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer’s opera “Moby Dick” has conversely sustained more success from the outset and this continued as their {…}
Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s “It’s A Wonderful Life” opened earlier this week at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House. An American success story based on “The Greatest Gift” by Philip Van Doren Stern, and Frank Capra’s beloved film on the same story, it combined old and new, young and original, odd and familiar, poignant and comic. Neither movie nor {…}
In just a few weeks, the San Francisco Opera will showcase Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s “It’s a Wonderful Life.” In anticipation of the production’s opening, the company held an event on Nov. 1, 2018, to showcase music, story and theme genesis designed for educators and the press. Both Heggie and Scheer were in attendance alongside Dramaturg Kip Cranna, soprano Kearstin {…}
The San Francisco Opera is set to present the West Coast premiere of “It’s a Wonderful Life” by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer in nine holiday-season performances. The opera, scheduled to be performed from Nov. 17 through Dec. 9, is a co-production between San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and {…}
On August 1, 2019, the Merola Opera Program of San Francisco will world premiere Jake Heggie’s new opera, “If I Were You.” This also marks the first work commissioned in the program’s long history of artistic development. The Merola Opera Program has announced that “If I Were You” will be conducted by Nicole Paiement, and directed by Keturah Stickann. The {…}
The Merola Opera Program has announced that it will establish a new Advisory Council. Per a press release, the council will be made up of “leaders in the field of opera performance, young artist training, arts administration, performing arts, and philanthropy.” These leaders will include San Francisco Opera General Director Emeritus David Gockley, mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, composer Jake Heggie; Seattle Opera General Director {…}
The opera season is starting up again with two major companies getting productions underway. One of those companies has two operatic gems in store, making for what should be an exciting weekend on the West Coast. Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci – San Francisco Opera The San Francisco Opera opens its season on Friday with a production of the famed double {…}