Opera Parallele Special Preview Event for 'Dead Man Walking' Premiere

In anticipation of its February 20-22 YBCA Theater premiere of a new production of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, award-winning contemporary opera company Opera Parallele will present a special free public event Wednesday, January 21, 7-8:30 pm at Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco. The evening will feature a discussion of the opera-which has had 40 productions, spanning the globe, in its 15-year history-and its controversial topic, the death penalty, along with performances of excerpts from the opera and other works. Opera Parallele founder and Artistic Director Nicole Paiement and Creative Director Brian Staufenbiel will host special guests including activist and author Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, which chronicles her relationship with a Louisiana death-row inmate, and which was also made into a celebrated motion picture; composer Jake Heggie, mezzo-sopranos Frederica von Stade and Catherine Cook, sopranos Kristin Clayton and Nicolle Foland, and Roslyn Barak, cantor of Temple Emanu-El. Admission for the event is free of charge and advance reservations are required at opdmw.brownpapertickets.com .

The evening will include Sister Helen's passionate presentation and discussion about the transformation of her famous memoir into film, stage play, and opera. Leaders from initiatives against the death penalty will take part in a panel discussion. In addition, selections from Dead Man Walking will offer a preview of Opera Parallele's February 2015 production at YBCA Theater. January 21 guest performers include Frederica von Stade, who created the role of Mrs. De Rocher at San Francisco Opera in 2000, and Catherine Cook, Opera Parallele's Mrs. De Rocher, who was also in the original production. Jake Heggie will accompany excerpts from the opera, Ms. von Stade's performance of Heggie songs written to texts by Sister Helen, and a performance of Ravel's Kaddish with Temple Emanu-El's renowned cantor, Roslyn Barak.