Intelligence is an opera with music by Jake Heggie and a libretto by Gene Scheer. It is the eleventh collaboration between this composer-librettist team that has also given us To Hell and Back (2006), Moby-Dick (2010) and It’s A Wonderful Life (2016), to name just three of their operas. They conceived Intelligence with Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, founder of Urban Bush Women, a Black women-led theatrical dance company. It had its première in 2023 with Houston Grand Opera; the recording created from this run just won a Grammy.
Virginia Opera will produce Intelligence with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra and choreographed by Christine C. Wyatt in Norfolk, Richmond and Fairfax, including performances on February 14 and 15 at the Center for the Arts at George Mason University, conducted by Brandon Eldredge.
I spoke with Jake Heggie about Intelligence — its place in his body of work, its blending of dance with the narrative, and its relevance to America’s past, present and future.
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