Composer Jake Heggie and Soprano Suzanna Guzman

[Gordon Parr]

Charm Annenberg Audience in Palm Springs

By Jorie Parr. Photo by Gordon Parr.

“I have to be happy and quiet in my life” to work. Composer Jake Heggie summed it up for all creative types, during an ebullient and enlightening program at the Annenberg theater in the Palm Springs Art Museum. It was the third and season final event sponsored by the ATC Speaker Series.

Mezzo-Soprano Suzanna Guzman performed to Heggie’s accompaniment, and the pair showed extraordinary rapport. Heggie said he’d like to write an opera for her. Opera singers, he pointed out, aren’t amplified, and they hold forth over a full orchestra. In turn, she emphasized “I can taste his music.”

The composer of such operas of “Dead Man Walking,” “Three Decembers,” and “The End of the Affair” premieres “Moby Dick” in Dallas April 30. Heggie believes that ”Opera is first and foremost theater.” He doesn’t believe in a “park and bark” stance. He’s thrilled that there’s a plethora of new work cropping up and sees the day coming when elitist attitudes give way to pleasing the people.