Here she proves herself to be an actress of equal power and presence. Di Donato is, as her fans know, a superb singer and one of opera's leading lights. And here Frederica von Stade reprises her wrenching portrayal of Joseph's mother.īut mezzo Joyce Di Donato - who, like Graham, has been a longtime champion of Heggie's work and who gave the New York premiere of Dead Man at City Opera in 2002 - leaves an indelible stamp on the role. Patrick Summers conducted both that recording and the new one. That first recording boasted an excellent cast led by Susan Graham as Sister Helen and John Packard as De Rocher. Ah, the passage of time and the full-blown arrival of the economic crisis. (Greatly missed this time around: the full libretto, which was included in the Erato recording. The San Francisco recording is apparently now out of print and not even available digitally. So here we have Dead Man Walking recorded by Houston Grand Opera, ten years after it was first recorded by San Francisco Opera for the now-dormant Erato label. And yet Heggie's brilliance ensures that his opera, in all of its abundant musical beauty and genuine emotional poignance, is a worthy addition to the repertoire. But few new operas have been so rapturously received as Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, which recounts the true story of a Catholic nun, Sister Helen Prejean, and the convicted rapist and double murderer Joseph De Rocher before he was executed by the state of Louisiana.Īt first glance, it might be easy to dismiss Dead Man as a fillip of pop culture at the opera house, a bestselling-book-turned-major-motion-picture-turned-opera on a topic, capital punishment, that is pretty much guaranteed to inflame audiences. It's so rare for a new opera - let alone a new American opera - to be recorded even once. Joyce DiDonato as Sister Helen Prejean and Philip Cutlip as Joseph De Rocher in Jake Heggie's opera Dead Man Walking.įelix Sanchez/courtesy of Houston Grand Opera
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