Dead Man Walking

A man who has been accused of a monstrous crime and is condemned to death row comes face to face with a nun who fiercely defends the dignity of every individual without exception. In Sister Helen Prejean and her story of redemption, composer Jake Heggie found the perfect material to compose an American opera with universal resonance. His musical language is constructed on a base of melodic motifs and rhythms which steadily increase in intensity. Overcome with physical and emotional exhaustion, these peak and there is a steady decrescendo. The music and story put us to the test, we become responsible for making our own conclusions and questioning our own preconceptions.

Prejean could be any one of us, for that reason it is easy to identify with her crusade. Through her eyes, we discover the characters of this story: from the assassin himself, to his family, and that of the victim. What begins as a story with a clear moral message becomes a disturbing universe of grey-nuanced tonalities: all the characters of the opera are ordinary people who have been pushed to the limit. In fact, they are not very different from ourselves. And in that sense, we ask the question: what would we have done in the same circumstances? 

Production by the Lyric Opera of Chicago

Premiere at the Teatro Real