Jake Heggie

Jake Heggie (born March 31, 1961) is an American composer of opera, vocal, orchestral, and chamber music. He is best known for his operas and art songs as well as for his collaborations with internationally renowned performers and writers. Biography Childhood John (“Jake”) Stephen Heggie was born in West Palm Beach, Florida, Shortly thereafter, Heggie began writing music. A few years after his father’s death, the family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where Heggie completed high school and continued his studies in piano. Education and musical training As a teenager, Heggie studied composition privately with Ernst Bacon from 1977 to 1979. After graduating from high school, he spent two years studying at the American University in Paris. He later continued his studies at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where his teachers included Roger Bourland, Paul Des Marais, David Raksin, and Paul Reale. He graduated from UCLA with a Bachelor of Arts in 1984 and returned for graduate school from 1986 to 1988, where he won the Henry Mancini Award in 1987. Heggie’s most significant teacher during his studies at UCLA was Johana Harris, widow of composer Roy Harris. “She was a magn