NEW YORK, NY (September 22, 2023) – The Young People’s Chorus of New York City (YPC), fresh off an international tour that included five gold medal wins – three as World Champions – at the World Choir Games, will make its Metropolitan Opera debut when it performs in the company premiere of Jake Heggie’s masterpiece Dead Man Walking on Tuesday, September 26, at 6:30PM. Based on Sister Helen Prejean’s memoir, with a libretto by Tony and Emmy Award–winner Terrence McNally, the story follows Sister Helen’s fight for the soul of a condemned murderer. After his debut with a critically acclaimed production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni in the 2022–23 season, Tony Award–winning director Ivo van Hove returns with a staging that explores the nature of love, forgiveness, and redemption.
“YPC is thrilled to make its Metropolitan Opera debut and perform with the world’s most prestigious opera house,” said Francisco J. Núñez, YPC Founder and Artistic Director. “It’s an honor to step onto its grand stage and lend our voices to Jake Heggie’s masterpiece.”
24 YPC choristers ages 8-11 will join the star-studded cast of Dead Man Walking. Performers include Grammy Award–winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato as Sister Helen, bass-baritone Ryan McKinny as death-row inmate Joseph De Rocher, soprano Latonia Moore as Sister Rose, and mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, who originated the role of Sister Helen in the opera’s 2000 premiere, as De Rocher’s mother. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Met’s Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, conducts what has become the most performed contemporary work of the past two decades. Steven Osgood conducts the performances on October 8 and 12.
Following Opening Night, YPC performs in the production’s eight additional performances, concluding on Saturday, October 21. For further details on Dead Man Walking, please click here.
For prices and ticket information, please call 212.362.6000 or visit metopera.org. Special rates for groups of ten or more are available by calling 212.341.5410 or visiting metopera.org/groups.
Click here and enter the password MetOpera2020 for photos of Dead Man Walking.
For more information about YPC, please visit www.ypc.org.
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Production a gift of C. Graham Berwind, III; the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation; Ted Snowdon and Duffy Violante, in memory of Terrence McNally; and Mrs. Diane B. Wilsey
Additional funding from Franci Neely; Judy and Jim Pohlman; Denise Littlefield Sobel, in memory of Phyllis Cannon Wattis; and The H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang, Ph.D. and Oscar Tang Endowment Fund