A special pre-performance event will bring the audience closer to the fascinating story behind Dead Man Walking. Hear perspectives from the composer of the opera, Jake Heggie, at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24 in the Center for Creativity on Tulsa Community College’s Metro Campus. Kostis Protopapas, artistic director for Tulsa Opera, will host this “Inside Composer’s Studio” event. Heggie will take you behind the scenes of his contemporary American drama that tells the true story of a woman’s journey to help a convicted murderer find his way to truth and redemptive love.
This event is free and open to the public.
Visit TCC’s website for more information.
“Often we think of opera as something of or about the past. No work challenges that notion more than Dead Man Walking does. It is a piece that stares a difficult issue straight in the eye, and tells a heartwrenching story of the here and now. No period costumes, chandeliers, star-crossed lovers or tunes from your “Favorite Arias” compilation here. Instead, a story set in 1980s Louisiana, a brutal double-murder, a prisoner, the anguished parents of the victims, and one woman thrust into the center of one of the most explosive and complex moral issues of ontemporary America: capital punishment. This Oklahoma premiere is a compelling story from contemporary America, told in quintessentially American musical style.”
Read the entire article on page 12 of the February issue of Intermission magazine.
Sister Helen Prejean will discuss issues of capital punishment at The University of Tulsa’s Lorton Performance Center on February 21 at 6 p.m. Sister Helen’s visit to Tulsa is in support of Tulsa Opera’s production Dead Man Walking, opening February 25. The lecture, a collaborative effort of the TU College of Law and Tulsa Opera, is free and open to the public. Read more about the event at the University of Tulsa School of Law’s website.
The New Yorker magazine critic Alex Ross called Tulsa Opera “one of the sturdier and more adventurous organizations in its class.” He commented on Tulsa Opera’s history of supporting rising talent and the importance of regional opera companies in advancing this art form. Read the New Yorker article. The New Yorker article was so noteworthy the Tulsa World included a write up of the review. Read the Tulsa World Article.