Pensacola Opera Presents Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers

A moving contemporary chamber opera to open the 43rd Season

Pensacola, FL — [August 26, 2025] — Pensacola Opera is proud to open its season with Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers, a poignant chamber opera that delves into the complexities of family, love, and the secrets we keep. With music by Jake Heggie and libretto by Gene Scheer, this intimate work is based on a script by Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally.

At the center of Three Decembers is Madeline Mitchell, a glamorous Broadway star whose career has always come first. As the years pass, her two adult children—Bea and Charlie—struggle to reconcile their own lives and identities with the shadows cast by their mother’s fame, distance, and emotional armor.

Set over the course of three decades—1986, 1996, and 2006—this intimate, character-driven opera explores the complexities of family, the ache of unresolved grief, and the truths we choose to hide or reveal. With a stirring, modern score Three Decembers delivers powerful storytelling through soaring music and raw emotion. 

Originally commissioned by Houston Grand Opera and San Francisco Opera, Three Decembers has become a contemporary classic, praised for its accessibility, lyricism, and deep emotional resonance.

“I’m excited to bring Three Decembers to our audiences in Pensacola,” says Music Director and Conductor Cody Martin. “Between Heggie’s incredibly beautiful melodies and the pared down intimacy of the piece, I really think it’ll be something unlike any other opera we’ve performed before. The power of telling these characters’ stories in such a concise package is truly something that can’t be missed.”

Pensacola Opera is also proud to announce that there will be a select display of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in the lobby of the theatre during Three Decembers. After being in storage for over a decade, we will all be able to honor, remember and celebrate the stories and lives of those  lost to HIV/AIDS. While the storyline of Charlie and his husband in Three Decembers is fictional, Pensacola Opera is honored to tell a story on stage that has been reality for so many.