Joyce DiDonato has announced on social media that the first preview track to her upcoming album, “Into the Fire,” has been released via Apple Music and Spotify. The new track entitled “Shakuntala” comes from Jake Heggie’s song cycle “Camille Claudel: Into the Fire,” which is part of the album. The album, which will be released on Sept. 7, 2018, captures DiDonato’s {…}
On May 22, 2018, Roven Records celebrated the release of its newest album, “Remember,” with a recital and launch party at Carnegie Hall. The album features work from composers such as Benjamin C.S. Boyle, Jake Heggie, Jennifer Higdon, Lori Laitman, and Glen Roven; all performed by some of opera’s most promising young baritones. In describing what makes the baritone voice {…}
Everyone knows her as “Flicka.” It’s a fun nickname that embodies exactly what makes Frederica Von Stade such a well-liked figure in the opera world. A consummate professional with a smashing personality, Von Stade, who was born on June 1, 1945, grew up in New Jersey and attended the Mannes College of Music. In 1970, she made her Metropolitan Opera {…}
We spend a lot of time on this site talking about dead composers. And for good reason. Opera wouldn’t exist today if it wasn’t for those great artists of the past. But it’s also important sometimes to shine a spotlight on the artists making headway in today’s conservative opera culture. I call it conservative because despite having more talent in {…}
It’s amazing what a ripping good yarn enhanced by instantly recognizable themes can do for an audience. American composer Jake Heggie’s opera, “Moby Dick,” now being performed by the Pittsburgh Opera, is in many ways a return to that fundamental principle for operatic success: create characters audiences care about, and endow them with memorable motifs to better manipulate the viewers’ {…}
Jake Heggie is one of the prominent opera composers of the modern era and any new work of his is of most utmost importance to the opera world. And in just a month or so, his latest creation, “Out of Darkness: Two Remain” will make its world premiere as part of The Atlanta Opera’s Discovery series. The opera, which is {…}
Jake Heggie’s 2000 opera “Dead Man Walking” – based on the memoirs of Sister Helen Prejean and inspired by the film of the same name – hardly conforms to operatic standards. An intersection of “Porgy and Bess”-like motifs, rock opera recitatives, and the echoes of New Orleans jazz, it treats the opera template with a moderate respect: scant arias and {…}
Jake Heggie is considered one of the greatest modern composers of our time. His work has been widely performed throughout with “Dead Man Walking” becoming one of the most popular modern operas around. His “Moby Dick” has also garnered quite a following and has also been performing throughout the United States. In 2015 after the success of “Moby Dick” at {…}
Condensing a full-length novel down to an opera of manageable proportions is a daunting task. Sometimes the challenges seem insurmountable. Take, for example, Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie’s transformation of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath.” Since its premiere in 2007, it’s gone through several revisions and multiple attempts at downsizing the sprawling story to a find a good, {…}
After a week of releases dominated by Maria Callas, European opera lovers are getting a ton of options for quality recordings from the world’s greatest artists. In the US, one major CD release will steal headlines. Duets Rolando Villazón and Ildar Abdrazakov’s new duets, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin will arrive on shelves in the US this week and features duets {…}
On July 30, 2017, at the Scottish Rite Center, Performance Santa Fe presented a vocal quintet and 3 short operas. Fifteen-year-old Ezra Shcolnik, a graduate of Performance Santa Fe’s young artist program who currently studies at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, wrote the Quintet. Mark Adamo, Jake Heggie, and Joe Illick wrote the short operas. Maestro Illick also accompanied {…}
