The Metropolitan Opera is set to present four contemporary operas during the 2024-25 season. In a new article by The New York Times, the company revealed that it will present “Grounded” about the toll of drone warfare by Jeanine Tesori and George Brant to open the season in September. The season will also see John Adams’ latest opera “Antony and {…}
(Photo Credits: Karen Almon/Metropolitan Opera) Throughout this new series, we will be looking at the history of American opera, beginning in the 2000s through to the present, through revisiting certain iconic works of the past two decades and OperaWire’s coverage of them throughout the 21st century. In part one, we looked at the developments of the 2000s. In part two, {…}
The Metropolitan Opera is set to present Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s “Moby Dick” during the 2024-25 season. The Heggie work is set to arrive one season after the company performed Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally’s “Dead Man Walking” for its opening night of the 2023-24 season. The Met made the announcement on its website while promoting “Dead Man Walking.” “Moby {…}
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 {…}
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’ {…}
The Pittsburgh Opera has announced that it will receive a $25,000 Art Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help support the new production of “Moby-Dick” by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer. The grant is part of the more than $25 million in grants which NEA Chairman Jane Chu has approved as part of {…}
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, {…}
A few weeks ago, Metropolitan Opera Music Director Designate Yannick Nézet-Séguin made the proclamation that he would be bringing newer and fresher composers to the Metropolitan Opera throughout his tenure. A few days later it was reported that among the new composers he would be bringing would be Jake Heggie’s “Dead Man Walking.” It’s a great start, considering Heggie, who {…}
Pittsburgh Opera’s 2017-18 season is set to keep opera modern with three new works making their way onto the schedule. The season will kick off with “Tosca” starring soprano Leah Crocetto alongside Mark Delavan. That run will start on Oct. 7 and end on the15th. On Nov. 4, “Le Nozze di Figaro” bows with Joélle Harvey, Danielle Pastin and Corrie {…}