In Great Scott, the Kansas-born mezzo-soprano, one of today’s best-loved classical singers, creates a role conceived specifically with her in mind. The character she plays, Arden Scott, just happens to be an opera star, and she is the lynchpin of what Fred Plotkin of WQXR, the USA’s leading classical music radio station, welcomed as a “deeply moving and musically brilliant work” that “should  enter the standard repertory just as Heggie’s two previous masterpieces – Dead Man Walking and Moby-Dick – already have”.

Jake Heggie, who has been described as US opera’s most successful composer, chose the celebrated playwright Terence McNally as his librettist for Great Scott. The two previously collaborated on the gripping Dead Man Walking, which has become something of a modern classic since its premiere in 2000. Joyce DiDonato first performed its central role, Sister Helen Prejean, at New York City Opera in 2002.

Cast:
- Arden Scott: Joyce DiDonato
- Tatyana Bakst: Ailyn Pérez
- Winnie Flato: Frederica von Stade
- Sid Taylor: Nathan Gunn
- Roane Heckle: Anthony Roth Costanzo
- Eric Gold/Vittorio Bazzetti: Kevin Burdette
- Anthony Candolino: Rodell Rosel
- Wendell Swann: Michael Mayes