By Dennis D. Rooney The composer Jake Heggie was born John Stephen Heggie on March 31, 1961, in West Palm Beach, but didn’t stay there long as his family relocated soon after his birth to Columbus, Ohio. Since the late 1990s he has been identified with the musical scene in San Francisco, where he currently resides. He composed Dead Man Walking through a fellowship from … [Read more...]
A charming, colorful ‘Vixen’ at Miami Music Festival
By Dennis D. Rooney Leoš Janáček’s operas, particularly Jenůfa and Káťa Kabanová, have now become established repertory works, albeit still at the fringes. The Cunning Little Vixen, from 1924, is one of his most accessible. The composer based the libretto on a story first told in comic strip form in Lidové noviny, his hometown newspaper in Brno, the Moravian capital. … [Read more...]