“Arguably the world’s most popular 21st century opera and art song composer” (The Wall Street Journal), Jake Heggie is the American composer of the acclaimed operas Dead Man Walking (libretto by Terrence McNally), Moby-Dick (libretto by Gene Scheer), It’s A Wonderful Life (Scheer), Great Scott (McNally), Three Decembers (Scheer) and Two Remain (Scheer). His new opera, If I Were You (Scheer), is a modern telling of the Faust story, commissioned by the Merola Opera Program and set to premiere Aug 1-6 at San Francisco’s Herbst Theater. Also upcoming is a dramatic song cycle Intonations: Songs from the Violins of Hope (Scheer) for Music at Kohl Mansion in January 2020, with an orchestral version commissioned by the Cabrillo Festival and set to premiere in August 2020.
Heggie’s operas and nearly 300 art songs have been performed extensively on five continents, championed by some of the world’s most celebrated and beloved artists. Major productions have taken place in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Dresden, London, Vienna, Madrid, Sydney, Montreal, Calgary and Copenhagen. Dead Man Walking has received nearly 70 international productions and two live recordings since its San Francisco Opera premiere in the Fall of 2000 with future productions scheduled for Lyric Opera of Chicago, Israeli Opera and The Metropolitan Opera.
Heggie was the 2016 keynote speaker for the National Association of Schools of Music and has delivered commencement addresses at Northwestern and Eastman. He is a frequent guest artist at festivals, universities and conservatories. He lives in San Francisco with his husband, Curt Branom.
Heggie returns to the Cabrillo Festival for the West Coast premiere of the orchestral version of The Work at Hand, performed on Saturday, August 3, during Contrasts, featuring mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton and cellist Inbal Segev.
