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Concert 2024-25

Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking

Kentaro Ogasawara September 25, 2023

“Direct, unaffected, and unflinchingly honest—but not without a deep understanding of the heart and humanity inside each one of us”.

-From the program note

And also-

The story concerns Prejean’s introduction to the world of capital punishment, first as a spiritual advisor to a single inmate and then slowly, inexorably, as an advocate on behalf of all individuals condemned to death. What made the book and film capture national and global attention was precisely what made the subject matter a natural candidate for the operatic stage—the moral complexity and deep nuance of its themes and characters.

In depicting this quintessentially American story, Heggie composed a score immersed in an American musical vernacular built around the characters and their inner conflicts, rather than an overt debate about capital punishment. The role of Sister Helen is scored for a lyric mezzo-soprano, with a lower tessitura depicting the character’s essential earthiness but also calling upon the singer’s upper range to express the character’s idealism. Joseph De Rocher’s music initially depicts him as a hardened criminal—with jagged, curt phrases—but gradually reveals his fears, fragility, and inherent humanity. Both roles require classic operatic vocalism, nowhere more than in their climactic Act II duet, as they relive the details of Joseph’s horrific crimes and the resulting emotions.

The important role of Mrs. De Rocher, Joseph’s mother, was composed for a mezzo-soprano who could convey deep pathos in her tone as well as being able to express both the text and subtext in her music. The score, however, does not stop at character portrayals: Ambient music plays a large role as well, including songs on a car radio, rock ’n’ roll in the style of Elvis Presley, and a traditional-sounding hymn (an invention of the composer’s) whose impact changes when heard in different treatments—a joyous celebration when sung by a choir of schoolchildren but a profound meditation when intoned a cappella by Sister Helen at the opera’s close

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