New Wave Opera: Night of the Living Opera
$10 cover at the door
- Lindsey Rae Johnson, soprano
- Carolyn Quick, soprano
- Allison Kim-Yok Knotts, mezzo-soprano
- Lisa Neher, mezzo-soprano
- Brandon Michael, tenor
- Deac Guidi, bass
- Sequoia, piano
Lisa Neher — She Conjures
Felix Jarrar — The Oval Portrait
Del'Shawn Taylor — Serial Killers and The City
Night of the Living Opera is an evening of creepy contemporary operas in English that are the perfect way to get in the mood for Spooky Season! Enter a world of witches, murderers, and artists gone mad in a nightlife venue with themed food and drinks.
Featured Repertoire:
THUMP by Portland composer Kimberly Osberg: based on Edgar Allan Poe's Gothic classic The Tell-Tale Heart, this psychodrama explores the psyche of a multifaceted narrator who has committed an unspeakable crime, as well as their relationship to their victim. A chilling tale of loss, resentment, and guilt.
she conjures by Portland composer Lisa Neher and librettist Bea Goodwin: in this feminist tale of witches, crows, curses, revenge, and redemption, Grissall, the daughter of the last witch burned in Scotland, seeks justice with the help of her mother’s feathered familiar, Caraid. Scottish folk music infuses this mysterious and haunting story.
The Oval Portrait by Felix Jarrar: based on Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories, a painter slowly falls into a drug-induced madness.
Serial Killers and the City by Del'Shawn Taylor and Joanie Brittingham: in this parody of Sex and the City, a group of stylish girlfriends get together to swap stories about their latest murders over Bloody Mary’s and Charcuterie boards. But things get tense when FBI Agent Small unexpectedly joins them for brunch!
PREVIEW, FEATURING RENEGADE OPERA: The Raven by Jesse Preis (Wednesday, October 23rd performance only): a chamber opera composed for three voices and piano from Edgar Allan Poe's poem of the same name. In this opera, the narrator (told from their point of view at two different stages in life) deals with emotions tied to the loss of a loved one. We then witness these complicated, painful, and even terrifying emotions become personified through the character of the raven.
About New Wave Opera
New Wave Opera performs opera and vocal music by living composers for audiences in engaging, intimate, innovative productions.
https://www.newwaveopera.org/About Lindsey Rae Johnson, soprano
About Carolyn Quick, soprano
About Allison Kim-Yok Knotts, mezzo-soprano
https://www.portlandopera.org/about/people/chorus/allison-kim-yok-knotts/
About Lisa Neher, mezzo-soprano
Dr. Lisa Neher (she/her, "NEER") is an award-winning composer and new music mezzo on a mission to transform audiences through sound, story, and vulnerability. With a voice praised as "full and rich" and "especially alive" (Oregon ArtsWatch), Neher's performance credits include Third Angle New Music, Really Spicy Opera, Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Opera Theatre Oregon, New Music Gathering, Resonance Ensemble, Experiments in Opera, Renegade Opera, and Big Mouth Society. She is a member of Portland Opera Chorus and President of New Wave Opera.
Described as a "supremely talented," "visionary composer" (Willamette Week), "maestro of beautifully wacky noises" (Oregon ArtsWatch), and author of "liquid, impressionist piano writing and fluent melding" of voices (New York Classical Review), Neher's compositions are inspired by the climate crisis, the tender love of family and friends, and the eerie mystery of deep ocean life. She is Composer in Residence for the Beaverton Community Band. She has been commissioned and performed by the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Cincinnati Song Initiative, Third Angle New Music, FearNoMusic, Dinosaur Annex, New Opera West, Mirror Visions Ensemble, Alma Ensemble, Opera Elect, and Opera Santa Barbara, among others.
Her awards include the Flute New Music Consortium Competition, ICDA/ICF Choral Competition, Mirror Visions Ensemble Young Composer Competition and the Celebris Ensemble Choral Competition.
http://www.lisanehermusic.com/