Composer Jake Heggie Joins San Francisco Conservatory Faculty

Heggie, the award-winning composer of 10 full-length operas and over 300 art songs, will join the composition faculty in the fall of 2025

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) has welcomed the GRAMMY-nominated composer Jake Heggie to its composition faculty. He will join SFCM in the fall of 2025 for coachings and masterclasses before welcoming a studio of students in 2026. 

His official role at the school will be as the Diane Wilsey Distinguished Professor of Composition. 

Heggie has worked with SFCM before, including workshopping his major opera, Great Scott, at the school in 2014. His work Intelligence was also performed in front of SFCM students ahead of its premiere with the Houston Grand Opera. 

His long-running relationship with SFCM is also reflected in his receiving an honorary doctorate from the school in 2023 and giving the commencement address. 

Among Heggie’s works are ten operas including Moby Dick, Great Scott, and Dead Man Walking, the last of which is the most widely performed new opera, with more than 80 international productions since its debut over 20 years ago. 

In addition to composing, he has served as an advisor and mentor for Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative, CU Boulder’s New Opera Workshop, and Chicago Opera Theater’s Vanguard Initiative. 

His teachers growing up included Ernst Bacon and pianist Johana Harris. He was also mentored by composers Carlisle Floyd, Roger Bourland, Paul DesMarais, and David Raksin at UCLA. 

Heggie continues to write all his work by hand, believing that a physical connection to the score is an essential part of composition. Since 1993, he has been based in San Francisco, where he lives with his husband, Curt Branom.

“I firmly believe in the great work that happens at SFCM, and I’m overjoyed to join the incredible team that shows up for these students every day,” Heggie said. “Collaboration and hard work are at the heart of my creative life, and I see the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as a vibrant hub of possibility and connection. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to workshop several new operas at the Conservatory, working closely with young composers, singers, and instrumentalists — all rich and invaluable experiences.”

“Jake Heggie has forged a new canon for opera and inspired the world to embrace this art form in ways rarely observed in the modern classical landscape,” added SFCM President David H. Stull. “His capacity to reach audiences with powerful stories of our shared humanity is astounding, but it is his character and endless personal generosity that capture the hearts of those who know him. We are deeply honored to welcome him to the faculty and look forward to extending our collaborative work into the future.”