Jake Heggie/Gene Scheer’s MOBY-DICK will be broadcast nationally on PBS Great Performances. This is San Francisco Opera‘s production from last year, with a cast featuring Jay Hunter Morris (Ahab), Stephen Costello (Greenhorn/Ishmael), Morgan Smith (Starbuck), Jonathan Lemalu (Queequeg), Talise Trevigne (Pip), Robert Orth (Stubb), Matthew O’Neill (Flask), and Joo Won Kang (Gardiner); conducted by Patrick Summers and directed by Leonard Foglia in the Robert Brill production with projections by Elaine McCarthy. The opera was commissioned by The Dallas Opera with San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera, State Opera of South Australia, and Calgary Opera.
Jake Heggie
Heggie MOBY-DICK DVD with San Francisco Opera
On this world premiere recording, Grammy-winning tenor Jay Hunter Morris plays the role of Captain Ahab in Herman Meville’s epic tale of a fierce, obsessive whaling-boat captain who descends into madness and puts his crew in mortal danger is brought to the stage in this thrilling production from San Francisco Opera. Composer Jake Heggie is in his ‘finest creation since Dead Man Walking,’ and librettist Gene Scheer adaptation is ‘a vibrant, compelling piece of musical theater’ (San Francisco Chronicle).
Watch the video on YouTube.
Purchase the DVD here.
OPERA America Songbook features several BHM Composers
Believing that the creation of art should mark every special occasion, OPERA America commissioned the OPERA America Songbook in celebration of the opening of the National Opera Center in September 2012. Composers with strong ties to the organization were invited to write a song for voice and piano on the theme of opening a new home, the joy of singing or the excitement of new beginnings. This collection of songs represents the distinctive voices of some of today’s most important established and emerging opera composers. Produced by OPERA America, the Songbook was recorded, edited and mastered at Gurari Studios in New York City in the summer of 2012.
Both audio recordings and a published collection are available for the Songbook.
Purchase recordings from ITunes.
Purchase sheet music from Hal Leonard.
Heggie HERE/AFTER double cd
A double-CD of recent music and songs performed by tenor Stephen Costello, mezzo Joyce DiDonato, baritone Nathan Gunn, soprano Talise Trevigne, with flutist Carol Wincenc, The Alexander String Quartet, and many others.
More than two hours of music, including Camille Claudel, Pieces of 9/11, Friendly Persuasions, Rise & Fall, A Question of Light, Fury of Light, Soliloquy.
Heggie and Scheer’s Moby-Dick: A Grand Opera for the Twenty-first Century
Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s grand opera Moby-Dick was a stunning success in the world premiere production by the Dallas Opera in 2010. Robert K. Wallace attended the final performance of the Dallas production and has written this book so readers can experience the process by which this contemporary masterpiece was created and performed on stage. Interviews with the creative team and draft revisions of the libretto and score show the opera in the process of being born. Interviews with the principal singers and the production staff follow the five-week rehearsal period into the world premiere production, each step of the way illustrated by more than two hundred color photographs by Karen Almond.
Opera fans, lovers of Moby-Dick, and students of American and global culture will welcome this book as a highly readable and visually enthralling account of the creation of a remarkable new opera that does full justice to its celebrated literary source. Just as Heggie and Scheer’s opera is enjoyed by operagoers with no direct knowledge of Moby-Dick, so will this book be enjoyed by opera fans unaware of Melville and by Melville fans unaware of opera.
Heggie’s MOBY-DICK premieres at San Francisco Opera
“A masterpiece of clarity and intensity, with a score that is at once thematically compact and richly inventive.”
Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle
“A GREAT AMERICAN OPERA” Opera Now Magazine
“A TRIUMPH”The Dallas Morning News
“AN UNDENIABLE SUCCESS” The New York Times
“THE HIT OF THE SEASON” The Washington Post
“A MASSIVE ARTISTIC ACCOMPLISHMENT” WFAA-TV
Moby-Dick is an opera in two acts by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, based on the novel by Herman Melville. Commissioned by The Dallas Opera with San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera, Calgary Opera and the State Opera of South Australia, Moby-Dick opened to extraordinary international acclaim on April 30, 2010 at the Margot & Bill Winspear Opera House in Dallas.
ORIGINAL PRODUCTION TEAM
| Conductor | Patrick Summers |
| Director & Dramaturg | Leonard Foglia |
| Set Design | Robert Brill |
| Lighting | Donald Holder |
| Costumes | Jane Greenwood |
| Projections & Film | Elaine McCarthy |
| Musical Preparation | Laurie Rogers, Michael Heaston, Janice Fehlauer |
| Chorus Conductor | Alexander Ro |
ORIGINAL CAST
| Ahab | Ben Heppner |
| Greenhorn | Stephen Costello |
| Starbuck | Morgan Smith |
| Queequeg | Jonathan Lemalu |
| Pip | Talise Trevigne |
| Stubb | Robert Orth |
| Flask | Matthew O’Neill |
| Gardiner | Jonathan Beyer |
The Dallas Opera Orchestra and Men of the Chorus
ORCHESTRATION
3 flutes (one doubles piccolo)
3 oboes (one doubles English Horn)
3 clarinets (one doubles bass clarinet)
3 bassoons (one doubles contrabassoon)
4 horns in F
3 trumpets in C
2 trombones
bass trombone
timpani
2 percussion
harp
strings
PRODUCTION COMPANIES
A list of companies who have performed or scheduled future performances of the opera follows:
- The Dallas Opera (April 2010)
- State Opera of South Australia (Aug./Sept. 2011)
- Calgary Opera (Jan. 2012)
- San Diego Opera (Feb. 2012)
- San Francisco Opera (Oct. 2012)
- Washington National Opera (Feb.-March 2014)
- Los Angeles Opera (Oct.-Nov. 2015)
- The Dallas Opera (Nov. 2016)
- Utah Opera (Jan. 2018)
- Pittsburgh Opera (March 2018)
Heggie’s DEAD MAN WALKING
“Dead Man Walking makes the most concentrated impact of any piece of American music theater since West Side Story more than 40 years ago.”
THE GUARDIAN (London)
Since its premiere in 2000, Dead Man Walking, the first opera by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Terrence McNally, has become one of the opera world’s most performed new works. Commissioned by San Francisco Opera (then headed by Lotfi Mansouri), it is based on the prize-winning book by Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ and tells the modern-day story of a nun who becomes the spiritual advisor to a condemned man on Louisiana’s death row. The opera was first performed on October 7, 2000 at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House. Maestro Patrick Summers led the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus and a cast that included mezzo-soprano Susan Graham as Sister Helen, baritone John Packard as Joseph DeRocher, and mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade as his mother, Mrs. DeRocher. The production was directed by Joe Mantello and featured sets by Michael Yeargan, lighting by Jennifer Tipton, and costumes by Sam Flemming. The original run of seven performances was increased to nine due to popular demand, and most performances were sold out.
In 2001 a new production of Dead Man Walking was commissioned by seven American opera companies: Opera Pacific, Cincinnati Opera, New York City Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Pittsburgh Opera and Baltimore Opera. Directed by Leonard Foglia and designed by Michael McGarty, the production features costumes by Jess Goldstein and lighting by Brian Nason.
A list of companies who have performed or scheduled future performances of the opera follows:
- San Francisco Opera (2000) — World Premiere
- Opera Pacific (2002) — New Production
- Cincinnati Opera (2002)
- New York City Opera (2002)
- Austin Lyric Opera (2003)
- Michigan Opera Theater (2003)
- State Opera of South Australia (2003) — First International Production
- Pittsburgh Opera (2004) — Live Broadcast on National Public Radio
- Calgary Opera (2006) — New Production. Canadian Premiere.
- Baltimore Opera (2006)
- Dresden Semperoper (2006) — New Production. European Premiere.
- Malmö Opera (2006-2007) — New Production. Scandinavian Premiere.
- Sydney, Australia (2007) — New Production
- Dresden Semperoper (2007) — Revival.
- Vienna Klangbogen Festival (2007)
- Hagen, Germany (2007-2008)
- Dublin, Ireland (2007) — New Production
- University of Colorado at Boulder (2007) — New Production. First complete university production.
- University of Nebraska in Lincoln. (2008) — New Production. Directed by William Shomos and conducted by Tyler White.
- Malmö Opera (2009) (revival)
- Fort Worth Opera (2009)
- Dresden SemperOper (2009) (revival)
- Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen (2009)
- Cape Town Opera, South Africa (2009)
- Houston Grand Opera (2011) – 10th Anniversary Production
- Union Avenue Opera, St. Louis (2011)
- Tulsa Opera (2012)
- Dresden SemperOper (2012) – revival
- Fayetteville Opera (2013)
- Opéra de Montréal (2013)
- Boston Opera Collaborative (2013)
- Eugene Opera (2013)
- The Modern American Music Project (2013)
- Staatstheater Schwerin, Germany (2014)
- Madison Opera (2014)
- Central City Opera (2014)
- DePaul University (2014)
- Des Moines Metro Opera (2014)
- Madison Opera (2014)
- University of Michigan (2014)
- Opera Parallele (2015)
- Northwestern University (2015)
- Opera NUOVA (2015)
- Dayton Opera (2015)
- Indiana University Opera Theater (2015)
- New Orleans Opera (2016)
- Shreveport Opera (2016)
- Townsend Opera (2016)
- Fresno Opera (2016)
- Lyric Opera of Kansas City (2017)
- Vancouver Opera (2017)
- Washington National Opera (2017)
- Pensacola Opera (2017)
- Miami Music Festival (2017)
- Opera on the Avalon (2017)
- Boston Conservatory (2017)
- Kentucky Opera (2017)
- BBC Symphony/Barbican Center (2018)
- Minnesota Opera (2018)
- James Madison University (2018)
- Teatro Real Madrid (2018)
- Utah Opera (2018)
- Theater Erfurt (2019)
- Atlanta Opera (2019)
- Oldenburgisches Staatstheater (2019)
- Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (2019)
- Welsh National Opera (2019)
- Israel Opera (2019)
- Opera Idaho (2020)
- Hungarian State Opera (2020)
- The Metropolitan Opera (2023)
- Lanestheater Detmold (2024)
- Miami Music Festival (2024)
- Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landestheater (2025)
- Opera AACC (2025)
Recordings
There are two recordings of Dead Man Walking:
Instrumentation
There are two versions of the orchestration to Dead Man Walking.
Original (full) Orchestration
3 Flutes (3rd doubling Alto Flute and Piccolo)
2 Oboes
English Horn
2 Clarinets in Bb
Bass Clarinet
3 Bassoons (3rd doubling Contrabassoon)
4 Horns in F
3 Trumpets in C
2 Trombones
Bass Trombone
Harp
Piano
Timpani
Percussion (2 players)
Strings
Reduced Orchestration
2 Flutes (2nd doubling on Alto Flute and Piccolo)
2 Oboes (2nd doubling English Horn)
2 Clarinets in Bb(2nd doubling Bass Clarinet)
2 Bassoons (2nd doubling on Contrabassoon)
2 Horns in F
2 Trumpets in C
Trombone
Bass Trombone
Synthesizer (harp and piano sounds only)
Timpani
2 Percussion
Strings
Licensing
For theatrical performances, there are two components to licensing Dead Man Walking. Grand Rights (theatrical rights) are licensed by:
Funsten and Franzen
Bill Holab Music handles rentals and sales of the musical materials. You can request a quote here.
Scores can be purchased here.
