BY KAREN BOSSICK
The 2023-24 season of The Metropolitan Opera’s Live Simulcast Opera Performances will kick off on Saturday with “Dead Man Walking.”
Sun Valley-area residents can view all eight full-length operas in this season’s lineup at the Magic Lantern Cinemas, 100 East 2nd St. in Ketchum.
The season kicks off on Saturday, Oct. 21. Doors will open at 10:30 a.m. and the simulcast will start at 10:45 a.m. The concession counter will be open. Tickets can be purchased at the door—cash only.
“Dead Man Walking” is based on Sister Helen Prejean’s memoir about her fight for the soul of a condemned man who was convicted of brutally murdering two teenagers. Prejean became involved with the man as a result of a pen pal relationship and began visiting him at his request.
The operatic version features beautiful poignant music by composer Jake Heggie and a brilliant libretto by Terrene McNally as it tells about Prejean’s ministry to condemned murderers on death row.
Met Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin will take the podium for the landmark premier. Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato will star as Sister Helen; bass-baritone Ryan McKinny as the death-row inmate Joseph De Rocher; soprano Latonia Moore as Sister Rose, and mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, as De Rocher’s mother.
Graham formerly sang Helen Prejean in the opera’s 2000 premiere with San Francisco Opera.
The opera is based on real-life events from the late 1970s and early ‘80s, depicting places from Prejean’s life, including a mission in a poor New Orleans neighborhood, the long road to the Louisiana State Penitentiary and the prison itself.
The opera is the most widely performed new opera of the last two decades. Be forewarned, however, as it does contain a depiction of a rape and murder, in addition to strong language.
The local Met HD simulcast was instigated by Sun Valley Opera, which has rebranded itself as Sun Valley Opera and Broadway to more accurately represent its concerts, feature selections from opera and Broadway stages. For more information, go to https://www.sunvalleyopera.com