Two teenagers on a date are brutally murdered. The boy is shot in the head, and the girl is raped before she is stabbed to death.

Years later, Sister Helen is contacted by Joseph De Rocher, one of the men convicted of the murders. He is waiting on Death Row and asks Sister Helen for spiritual guidance. He refuses to admit his guilt and is still applying for an acquittal.

As she agrees, Sister Helen is met by astonishment from her colleagues, the prison chaplain and the world around her. For how can she work with a brutal murderer who refuses to admit that he has done anything wrong?

The opera is based on the book Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen Prejean about her work with prisoners on Death Row. The book was made into a movie with Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn in 1995.

Jake Heggie is one of North America’s most exciting and sought-after composers. Dead Man Walking was his first opera and received widespread attention at its world premiere in 2000. It is now considered to be one of the great opera classics of our time.

Performed in English with Danish supertitles.