“Arguably the world's most popular 21st-century opera and art song composer…”
The Wall Street Journal
Jake Heggie is the American composer of ten full-length operas, including Dead Man Walking and Great Scott with librettos by Terrence McNally; Moby-Dick, Three Decembers, It’s a Wonderful Life, Intelligence, If I Were You, and Two Remain with librettos by Gene Scheer; and numerous one-acts. He has also composed nearly 300 art songs, as well as chamber, choral, and orchestral works.
In the 25/26 season, Dead Man Walking celebrates its 25th anniversary with performances across the globe, including a new production at English National Opera, the Western Australia premiere at Freeze Frame Opera, a student production at CU Boulder, and a special run at San Francisco Opera, which originally commissioned the work. Elsewhere, Heggie’s opera Intelligence receives a new production at Virginia Opera, as well as a world premiere album release by Houston Grand Opera on the LSO Live label. “Fire,” commissioned by violinist Joshua Bell for his concerto The Elements, travels to Houston Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, and Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, and new commissions appear with London Symphony Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Madison Symphony Orchestra, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. This season also marks a new chapter in legacy-building, as Heggie joins the faculty of San Francisco Conservatory of Music as the Diane B. Wilsey Distinguished Professor of Composition.
Portraits by James Niebuhr
Next Engagement
Dead Man Walking
Schleswig-Holsteinisches Landestheater
Conducted by Martynas Stakionis, directed by Felix Seiler
Jun 6, 12, 20; Jul 2, 8, 2025
Flensburg / Germany
Learn More >
Featured Works
Dead Man Walking
With over 80 productions globally, this opera is based on the work of Sister Helen Prejean, telling the journey of a Louisiana nun who becomes the spiritual advisor to a convicted murderer on death row.
Live recordings from San Francisco Opera and Houston Grand Opera have been released on Erato and Virgin Classics, respectively, and the work’s development was chronicled in the Emmy-nominated documentary And Then One Night: The Making of Dead Man Walking.
Songs for Murdered Sisters
This 28-minute song cycle for baritone and piano or orchestra — with searing words by Margaret Atwood – was created to wake people up to the global epidemic of gender-based violence.
Already an album and a film, the work received its fully orchestrated world premiere in February 2023 with Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and baritone Joshua Hopkins, for whom the work was composed.
Earth 2.0
This monodrama for countertenor (or soprano) and orchestra was commissioned by Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra for Key’mon Murrah, with a libretto by Anita Amirrezvani. It features choreography by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and dancers from Urban Bush Women.
The world premiere was presented in December 2024 by Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, with subsequent performances by co-commissioner Grand Rapids Symphony, and Aspen Music Festival & School in a future season.
Offstage
Jake Heggie is a frequent collaborator with educational institutions and other performing arts organizations, undertaking artist residencies, serving as mentorship faculty, and offering master classes to performers and creators.
For more information on offstage appearances, contact Jake using this form.
Production Images
