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Opera on 3: Jake Heggie - Dead Man Walking

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Jake Heggie - Dead Man Walking from the Barbican, London

26/05/2018

Jake Heggie - Dead Man Walking

BBC Radio 3 - Opera on 3, Jake Heggie - Dead Man Walking

Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, set on Death Row, with Joyce DiDonato as Sister Helen.

Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking. Stars Joyce DiDonato as Sister Helen and Michael Mayes as Joseph. Mark Wigglesworth the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Singers.

Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking. Joyce DiDonato (Sister Helen) & Michael Mayes as the condemned prisoner (Joseph), the BBC Symphony Orchestra & Singers. Mark Wigglesworth conducts.

Recorded at the Barbican Hall, London, on 20th February 2018.

Presented by Andrew McGregor.

1830: Act 1

1950: Interval. Andrew McGregor talks with Jake Heggie and members of the cast.

2010: Act 2

Sister Helen Prejean ..... Joyce DiDonato (Mezzo-soprano)
Joseph De Rocher ..... Michael Mayes (Baritone)
Ms Patrick De Rocher..... Maria Zifchak, (Mezzo-soprano)
Sister Rose ..... Measha Brueggergosman (Soprano)
Owen Hart .....Toni Marsol (Baritone)
Kitty Hart ..... Susan Bullock (Soprano)
Howard Boucher..... Mark le Brocq (Tenor)
Jade Boucher ..... Susan Bickley (Mezzo-soprano)
Warden George Benton ..... James Cresswell (Baritone)
Father Grenville ..... Michael Bracegirdle (Tenor)
Singers from Guildhall School of Music and Drama
BBC Singers
Finchley Children's Music Group
BBC Symphony Orchestra 
Mark Wigglesworth (Conductor)

Jake Heggie's opera, written in 2000 to a libretto by Terence McNally, is based on Sister Helen Prejean's best-selling memoir about her work with condemned prisoners on Death Row, and was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Susan Sarandon. The opera centres on the relationship that developed between a convicted murderer awaiting execution, Joseph De Rocher, and the nun who fights for clemency. It's a powerful operatic exploration of the US justice system and capital punishment.

Joyce DiDonato heads a magnificent ensemble of soloists in this emotional and dramatic work, which put Heggie on the map as a major force in modern opera. 
 

Presenter  ANDREW MCGREGOR.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

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