Prejean, Helen: *1939
Opera - Dead Man Walking, 2000
- Facts | Development | Articles | Opera
- Facts
- Composer: Jake Heggie, libretto by Terrence McNally. Premiered at San Francisco Opera on October 7, 2000.
- Information from Wikipedia
- Jake Heggie answers questions about the opera.
- Development
- Podcast
Sister Helen Prejean talks about the opera - And Then One Night: The Making of Dead Man Walking. An award-winning documentary details the creation of the opera and is interwoven with the stories of murder victims' families. PBS, 2002
- The journey of 'Dead Man Walking' from experience to opera: "The collaborators were determined to center their work on "the human element, not the political element," to heed Sister Helen's wish that the story remain a tale of redemption." Robert Faires; December 6, 2002
- Jake Heggie, the composer, talks about the opera
- Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton and Sister Helen Prejean discuss the origins and creative process of the opera
- The Making of Dead Man Walking from PBS
- Podcast
- Articles
- Dead man singing: "Sprinkled throughout the opera are legal, moral and biblical arguments against capital punishment." Salon; October 11, 2000
- 'Dead Man' is a masterpiece of music, words and emotions: "Could there be a more conducive subject for opera, a more irresistible blend of theatrical incident, moral complexity and sheer heart-tugging emotional depth?" Joshua Kosman; October 9, 2000
- Prejean spoke to the Met’s Matt Dobkin about her decades-long fight against capital punishment: "I said, “I don’t know boo scat about opera. Just make me two promises: One, it can’t be atonal. We’ve got to have melodies that people can hum. And two, redemption has to be at the heart of the story.”" The Metropolitain Opera
- Opera
- Listen to the opera (15 videos)
- Audio (5:54)
Hear an excerpt from the opera sung by Joyce DiDonato as Sister Helen Prejean. NPR Radio; July 3, 2012 - Summary of the opera and musical examples. New Orleans Opera, 2015. Starring Jennifer Rivera as Sister Helen Prejean, Michael Mayes as Joseph De Rocher, conducted by Robert Lyall and directed by Tomer Zvulun