Hildegard of Bingen, "Self-Portrait," 1141-1151, Scivias, Hildegard receives a vision
Follow the Fire
Dead Man Walking, The Deepest Desire, The Breaking Waves
Joyce DiDonato, Jake Heggie, & Sr. Helen Prejean CSJ
Duration: 1 hour and 29 minutes
About: Composer Jake Heggie, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato and Sister Helen Prejean come together for an inspiring and moving conversation on their many collaborations. Follow the Fire is a discussion of the music, but more than that, it is a call to action for young musicians to trust themselves as they emerge from their many years of training.
About the Presenters
The winner of multiple Grammys and the 2018 Olivier Award, Kansas-born Joyce DiDonato is, in the words of the New Yorker, “perhaps the most potent female singer of her generation”, her voice having been described by The Times as “nothing less than 24-carat gold”. For all its beauty and agility, its true impact lies in Joyce’s capacity to illuminate character and meaning through nuances of colour and phrasing and her unfailingly communicative way with the text. For more information and full bio see: www.joycedidonato.com
Jake Heggie is one of the world’s foremost composers of opera and song and he has collaborated as composer and pianist with some of the world’s best loved singers. A Guggenheim Fellow, he has also served as a mentor for Washington National Opera, CU Boulder’s New Opera workshop, and is a frequent guest artist and master teacher at Universities and conservatories. Those include Boston University, Bucknell College, Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, Cornell, Eastman, CU Boulder, Northwestern, Peabody Conservatory, Roosevelt, The Royal Conservatory in Toronto, San Diego State, UNI, UNT, UT Austin, USC’s Thornton School, Vanderbilt University and Festivals such as SongFest at the Colburn School, and the Ravinia Steans Institute. For more information and a full bio see: www.jakeheggie.com
More music by Jake Heggie can be found here: at Classical Vocal Reprints.
Sister Helen Prejean is known around the world for her tireless work against the death penalty. She has been instrumental in sparking national dialogue on capital punishment and in shaping the Catholic Church’s vigorous opposition to all executions. Her book Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States. ignited a national debate and inspired an Academy Award winning movie, a play and an opera. Sister Helen continues her work, dividing her time between educating the public, campaigning against the death penalty, counseling individual death row prisoners, and working with murder victims’ family members. Her second book, The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions, was published in 2004; and her third book, River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey, in 2019.
Those interested in donating to her cause, may click HERE.
