معرفی
Jake Heggie, acclaimed as the "world's most popular 21st-century opera and art song composer" by the Wall Street Journal, joins the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) as the Diane Wilsey Distinguished Professor of Composition in Fall 2025. Renowned for "Dead Man Walking"—the most widely performed new opera of the last 25 years with over 80 international productions—he has composed ten full-length operas and more than 300 art songs across five continents.
Heggie's educational foundation includes teenage composition studies with Ernst Bacon and advanced training at UCLA under pianist Johana Harris and composers Roger Bourland, Paul DesMarais, and David Raksin. He received pivotal mentorship from Carlisle Floyd prior to creating "Dead Man Walking".
His creative focus centers on opera and art song composition through a humanistic lens, exploring social justice, historical narratives, and environmental themes. Works like "Songs for Murdered Sisters" confront gender-based violence, while "Earth 2.0" integrates dance and ecological storytelling. Heggie maintains deep collaborations with librettists like Gene Scheer and poets including Margaret Atwood, emphasizing lyrical accessibility and emotional resonance in contemporary classical music.
Recent compositions (2023-2025) reveal escalating engagement with urgent global issues—from Civil War espionage in "Intelligence" to climate narratives in "Earth 2.0"—while preserving his signature melodic intensity. His output spans opera, art song, chamber, choral, and orchestral genres, consistently prioritizing narrative clarity and vocal expressiveness.
Heggie's accolades include:
- Musical America’s Composer of the Year (2025)
- Grammy Nomination for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album (for 'Unexpected Shadows')
- Juno Awards Nomination for Classical Album of the Year (for 'Songs for Murdered Sisters')
Committed to artistic development, Heggie mentors emerging composers through Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative, CU Boulder’s New Opera Workshop, and Chicago Opera Theater’s Vanguard Initiative. His residencies and masterclasses at institutions worldwide emphasize collaborative creation, with major commissions from the London Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Houston Grand Opera fueling ongoing innovation. Heggie maintains longstanding artistic partnerships with vocalists Joyce DiDonato, Susan Graham, and Jamie Barton.
Working exclusively by hand to preserve physical connection to scores, Heggie has resided in San Francisco since 1993 with his husband Curt Branom. His SFCM role continues decades of engagement, including the 2023 honorary doctorate and workshops for "Great Scott" (2014) and "Intelligence" (2023).
