Before It All Goes Dark
VIETNAM VET CONFRONTS A LOOTED PAST
In 2002, Howard identified and located the heir to a priceless art collection looted by Nazis from a Jewish man murdered in the Holocaust. The heir turned out to be a Chicago-area Vietnam veteran battling PTSD and Hepatitis C who was subsisting on disability checks. Determined to reclaim the stolen art, Gerald McDonald flew to Prague with Howard and learned startling truths about himself and his heritage. Composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer have been commissioned by Seattle-based Music of Remembrance to bring this story to the operatic stage, with the world premiere tour in May 2024 in San Francisco, Seattle and Chicago.
Credit: Courtesy of Music of Remembrance.
Howard with Jake Heggie, composer of “Before It All Goes Dark”
What They Say
Heggie and Scheer are “an indispensable presence in the contemporary opera world.”
– Opera Today
“The work is based on a true story reported by former Tribune critic Howard Reich.”
– Chicago Tribune
Kimiko’s Pearl
Image courtesy of Bravo Niagara! Festival of the Arts
