Jake Heggie’s 10th Grand Opera Premieres at HGO • October 2023
Beth Stewart Beth Stewart

Jake Heggie’s 10th Grand Opera Premieres at HGO • October 2023

Created in collaboration with Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Gene Scheer, Intelligence is Jake Heggie’s 10th full-length opera. The work is believed to be the first grand opera in which words, music, and dance are equally vital to the storytelling. Houston Grand Opera commissioned and premiered Intelligence, which was previewed in Opera Now, The New York Times, Houston Matters, Houstonia, San Francisco Chronicle, and BBC Music Magazine.

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Jamie Barton Creates Lead Role in Intelligence • October 2023
Beth Stewart Beth Stewart

Jamie Barton Creates Lead Role in Intelligence • October 2023

Jamie Barton realized a long-held dream this fall, creating a role in the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s newest opera, Intelligence, at Houston Grand Opera. She spoke with Opera Now, Opera News, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Matters, Houstonia, and Houston Life about this unusual work, which has three female leads.

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Eun Sun Kim Kicks off Wagner Initiative at SFO • October 2023
Beth Stewart Beth Stewart

Eun Sun Kim Kicks off Wagner Initiative at SFO • October 2023

Music Director Eun Sun Kim has officially launched the Wagnerian portion of her multi-year Verdi-Wagner initiative at San Francisco Opera with Lohengrin. The four-and-a-half-hour epic starred Simon O'Neill, Julie Adams, Brian Mulligan, Kristinn Sigmundsson, and Judit Kutasi.

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Joshua Bell Tours New Heggie Commission • September 2023
Beth Stewart Beth Stewart

Joshua Bell Tours New Heggie Commission • September 2023

Superstar violinist Joshua Bell is touring a new commission by Jake Heggie. His “Fire,” part of The Elements concerto, is opening orchestra seasons around the world, including at the New York Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie.

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Heggie Masterpiece Opens Met Season • September 2023
Beth Stewart Beth Stewart

Heggie Masterpiece Opens Met Season • September 2023

Dead Man Walking made its long-awaited Metropolitan Opera premiere, opening the 23/24 season in a star-studded new production gala. Since its world premiere in 2000, Dead Man Walking has become the most-performed opera of the 21st century, with particular praise for Jake Heggie’s music and the libretto of late Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally. Jake spoke with press outlets around the world – including Nightline, The New York Times, Associated Press, Financial Times, Air Mail Magazine, Opera News, Opera Magazine, BBC Music Magazine, and San Francisco Chronicle – about this career-defining moment.

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Ryan McKinny Stars in Met Season Opener • September 2023
Beth Stewart Beth Stewart

Ryan McKinny Stars in Met Season Opener • September 2023

Ryan McKinny wowed in a star turn opposite Joyce DiDonato in the Metropolitan Opera’s Dead Man Walking. Ryan spoke with top-tier print and television journalists – including The Times, Nightline, Agence France-Presse, and The New York Times – about the work, his collaboration with Equal Justice USA, and an opening-night look inspired by his personal connection to the subject matter.

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Jake Heggie In News Around the World • Fall 2023
Beth Stewart Beth Stewart

Jake Heggie In News Around the World • Fall 2023

Ahead of a jam-packed fall slate, composer Jake Heggie appeared on the covers of Opera Magazine and Opera News, with additional profiles in BBC Music Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Financial Times, Barron’s, and Classical Voice North America.

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Eun Sun Kim and NBE Release Album • June 2023
Beth Stewart Beth Stewart

Eun Sun Kim and NBE Release Album • June 2023

Eun Sun Kim and the National Brass Ensemble have released Deified, a new album showcasing brass music's exceptional coloristic and expressive range. The Pentatone release features world premiere recordings by Jonathan Bingham and Arturo Sandoval and Timothy Higgins’s The Ring, a virtuosic recomposition of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen scored for brass ensemble.

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Jamie Barton Returns to ROH • June 2023
Beth Stewart Beth Stewart

Jamie Barton Returns to ROH • June 2023

Jamie Barton commanded the stage in her house role debut as Azucena in Il trovatore at the Royal Opera House in London, earning acclaim from The Times, iNews, Evening Standard, Financial Times, and The Guardian.

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Music of Remembrance Celebrates 25 Years with Three-City Tour • May 2023
Beth Stewart Beth Stewart

Music of Remembrance Celebrates 25 Years with Three-City Tour • May 2023

Music of Remembrance has a robust history of commissioning “testimonies for tomorrow” – works that explore the consequences of intolerance toward the other. To celebrate its 25th year, MOR remounted two of its most successful commissions: a double bill of one-act operas by the acclaimed creative team of composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer. We helped promote MOR’s tour to Seattle, San Francisco, and Chicago, including features in Seattle Times, The Cholent, I Care if you Listen, San Francisco Classical Voice, Seattle Gay News, KNKX, KALW, and Crain’s Chicago Business.

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Ryan McKinny Returns to HGO • May 2023
Beth Stewart Beth Stewart

Ryan McKinny Returns to HGO • May 2023

Ryan McKinny’s return to Houston Grand Opera as Jochanaan in Salome was a resounding critical success, earning rave reviews from Houston Press, Texas Classical Review, Houston Chronicle, and Opera Canada.

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Lidiya Yankovskaya Debuts at ENO • April 2023
Beth Stewart Beth Stewart

Lidiya Yankovskaya Debuts at ENO • April 2023

Lidiya Yankovskaya has just made her highly anticipated English National Opera debut, conducting a staged production of Symphony No. 3 by Henryk Górecki. She spoke with BBC Music Matters, Jewish Chronicle, Bachtrack, and Opera Now about the contemporary resonance of Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.

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From the Top Launches National Initiative • March 2023
Beth Stewart Beth Stewart

From the Top Launches National Initiative • March 2023

From the Top, America’s favorite talent-spotting classical radio show, has produced a national performance special featuring disabled and neurodivergent young musicians. We helped bring these powerful stories to new audiences, with print features in the Boston Globe and Houston Chronicle and radio promos across the country, including YourClassical MPR, KERA, WRR, WETA, and Interlochen Public Radio.

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A Thousand Splendid Suns Premieres at Seattle Opera • February 2023
Beth Stewart Beth Stewart

A Thousand Splendid Suns Premieres at Seattle Opera • February 2023

The Verismo team has been hard at work promoting the world premiere of A Thousand Splendid Suns at Seattle Opera, directed by acclaimed Afghan filmmaker Roya Sadat. Check out coverage via Associated Press, Agence-France Presse, BBC Music Matters, The Economist, I Care if You Listen, Musical America, Opera Magazine, Opera News, and Opera Now.

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Margaret Atwood and Jake Heggie Confront Gender-Based Violence • February 2021
Beth Stewart Beth Stewart

Margaret Atwood and Jake Heggie Confront Gender-Based Violence • February 2021

Commissioned by baritone Joshua Hopkins in remembrance of his sister, Margaret Atwood and Jake Heggie’s Songs for Murdered Sisters confronts gender-based violence. The album, film, and international tour have received global coverage via BBC World, CBC Music, Wall Street Journal, Houston Chronicle, Opera News, Musical America, Limelight Magazine, Financial Times, and more.

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