Seattle Times

Vietnam War vet discovers he’s heir to art stolen by Nazis; now it’s an opera
May 2024

Jake Heggie can never predict where he will find the topic for his next opera. But the American composer has an instinct for recognizing when he has alighted on a story that will send his imagination into overdrive. 

Such as when he heard about a Vietnam War veteran who discovered he was heir to an art collection looted by Nazis. 

“I felt the hair going up on the back of my neck, because I knew this was the right one,” Heggie said in a recent interview about “Before It All Goes Dark,” his latest collaboration with librettist Gene Scheer.