Gene Scheer: Last News

Dead Man Walking, an operatic adaptation of Sister Helen Prejean’s famous book that he developed with Terrence McNally.Barton and Heggie will perform music from The Breaking Waves at this recital, designed in part as a live showcase of the duo’s Grammy-nominated 2020 album Unexpected Shadows.The program also includes the album’s song cycles “Of Gods & Cats,” set to poems by Gavin Dillard, and “Iconic Legacies: First Ladies at the Smithsonian,” set to poems by Gene Scheer and originally commissioned by Vocal Arts.Also on tap at the concert is “What I Miss the Most,” a song cycle set to lyrics by an assorted bunch of strong, inspiring women, including Prejean, Joyce DiDonato, Patti Lupone, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Kathleen Kelly.“Jamie Barton and Jake Heggie make music together in a way that is completely beguiling and infectious,” says Vocal Arts DC’s Peter Russell in a press release.“It is an honor to welcome them back to our organization for the first time since our 25th anniversary season in the autumn of 2015, and I know their program will be a joyous occasion.”Wednesday, April 6, at 7:30 p.m. Terrace Theater.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOf all the songs President Joe Biden might have quoted during his inaugural address on Wednesday, a song that many people know as a Norah Jones track from a Ken Burns documentary might not have been the first guess.The song, “American Anthem,” was written by songwriter Gene Scheer and was first sung by Denyce Graves in 1998 for President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton at the Smithsonian Institution during the launch of the “Save America’s Treasures” initiative. It was subsequently performed at other ceremonies, was covered by Patti Labelle and sung by Graves at George W.