Dead Man Walking is the first of three Met premieres presented this season. The story is adapted from Sister Helen Prejean’s haunting memoir about her fight for the soul of a condemned murderer, later made a household name by the critically acclaimed film starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon.

The opera is by American composer Jake Heggie, with a libretto by Tony and Emmy Award–winning playwright Terrence McNally. Since its 2000 premiere, Heggie’s masterpiece has become the most performed contemporary opera of the past 20 years.

World-renowned, Grammy Award–winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato stars as Sister Helen, alongside bass-baritone Ryan McKinny as death-row inmate Joseph De Rocher, soprano Latonia Moore as Sister Rose, and legendary mezzo-soprano Susan Graham—who sang Helen Prejean in the opera’s world premiere—as De Rocher’s mother. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, a champion of new works, conducts.

The new production is by Tony Award–winning director Ivo van Hove (who makes his highly anticipated directorial debut with Don Giovanni in 2023).