Opera On Tap Maine’s Inaugural Concert

Opera Party on a Winter Wednesday 

Opera on Tap is the largest network of performing artists in the country. We take a local, grassroots, and VERY fun approach to community outreach in the name of our art form. We sing anywhere people will let us, aside from concert halls and opera houses. 

Please join us for the Maine chapter of Opera on Tap’s inaugural event where we will sing some of opera’s greatest party hits.  “Warm up with us” as we embark on this exciting new adventure! 

Featuring…

Shaunna Lucas, soprano (Co-Managing Diva)

Mary Johnston Letellier, soprano(Co-Managing Diva)

Alexandra Alene Dietrich, mezzo soprano 

Lindsay Conrad, soprano 

David Worobec, tenor

Colin Whiteman, baritone

Scott Wheatley, piano

Where: Cadenza in Freeport, ME

When: Wednesday February 12th, 8 PM

Tickets:

https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4488730

Opera on Tap announces lead producer partnership with Adrienne Danrich’s Music as the Message™.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: AUGUST 2023
Press Contact: press@operaontap.com

New York, NY— Opera on Tap is excited to announce their formal partnership with Adrienne Danrich’s Music as the Message™, offering interactive, hybrid performances. Music as the Message (MaM) was created in 2020 by Emmy Award-winning soprano Adrienne Danrich, in response to the need for communal sharing and healing, despite our physical isolation, during the height of the pandemic, and in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. MaM’s mission is to create shared musical experiences, celebrating the unifying power of music to inspire healing, joy, laughter, love and most importantly, community. Adrienne serves as host, inviting guest artists from a wide range of backgrounds, genres, and experiences to offer performances of songs, dance, and spoken word. Within the provided safe space, attendees are encouraged to choose their level of participation — whether quietly enjoying, or lifting their voices in tandem with the performers. Each episode also sees the premiere of newly commissioned works, as well as partnerships with charity organizations, sharing in the musical offerings and proceeds.

MaM was previously produced and presented by The American Opera Project (AOP) and Opera on Tap, in association with Broadway Presbyterian Church. AOP will continue to be involved on a per episode basis, while Opera on Tap will take over as lead producer and presenter. Adrienne states, “During the isolation of the pandemic, I, like many others, found myself in the darkest headspace that I had ever experienced. My joy of being physically surrounded by the people I love had been torn away. And then came the murder of George Floyd. I had never been struck so hard by a stranger’s death. I grieved for George like he was a part of my family, because, in his face I could see the reflection of the men in my own family. The only way that I was able to cope and heal was through music, and through an active practice of empathy and the discipline of gratitude. Music became my medicine, my comfort and my escape. Music as the Message began with my desire to pass on the healing medicine of music to others around the world, and create a safe space for all who attend to sing, dance, and be lifted up. I am ever grateful to my original producers The American Opera Project for believing in and supporting my vision, to Broadway Presbyterian Church for providing a platform for MaM to thrive, and to Opera on Tap for continuing to help MaM reach music lovers near and far.”

Executive & Artistic Director of Opera on Tap, Anne Hiatt states, “Adrienne and her team have developed a deeply moving and loving experience with Music as the Message.  To participate is to feel the warmth and connection alongside everyone there with you.  Over the course of the past two years, I have seen people of all ages visibly expand their chests, reach out to their fellow participants and share in the making of music together- a practice that has declined so much over the course of the last several decades in our culture. To participate in Music as the Message- whether as a contracted professional artist or audience member, is to heal through music and feel the strength of your community through music.  We all need to hear this Message!  It is an honor to support Adrienne’s work as Music as the Message enters into its next phase of development.  The program’s purpose perfectly aligns with Opera on Tap’s mission of engaging our communities through our artistic practice.   I look forward to supporting Adrienne’s work to expand the program’s impact to more and more communities, leveraging Opera on Tap’s unique, intimate and accessible approach to audience engagement.”

Beginning solely as an online experience, MaM has grown into a vibrant, interactive performance experience held live and simultaneously streamed via Zoom. The hybrid model fosters a greater global presence, reaching audience members from across the globe. Seeking to continue the expansion of its mission, MaM will soon announce new additions to its thriving programming offerings, including partnerships with Educational Institutions and Musical Retreats which focus on Music Making, Meditation, and Movement. 

MaM provides presenters with intimate and impactful opportunities to engage with their local communities and expand their audience base of all ages.  Opera on Tap is actively seeking co-producing and presenting partners to help further MaM’s mission and reach.  To explore partnership and to learn more, email Anne Hiatt at anne@operaontap.com.

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About Opera on Tap New York City

Opera on Tap (OOT) was born in 2005 at Freddy’s Bar and Backroom in Brooklyn and incorporated in 2007 to promote opera as a viable, living and progressive art form and to support the developing artists who continue to keep the art form alive. What began as a small monthly gathering of ambitious, classically trained singers looking for more performance opportunities, has grown into a producing organization that has gained a loyal audience base and national recognition as an innovative force on the classical music scene. Through its Chapter program, which now has over twenty vibrant national (and international!) chapters, OOT has created a large network of performers, creators, and supporters. Our mission is to expose new audiences to opera and classical music by taking opera and classical music out of the concert hall and performing it in alternative venues, to aid young performers in their development by giving them the opportunity to perform and to promote and support them through our organization and to help promote new classical works of contemporary classical and operatic composers. Learn more about our programs here: https://operaontap.org

About Adrienne Danrich’s Music as the Message:

Created and hosted by Emmy Award-winning soprano Adrienne Danrich, Music as the Message (MaM) is an interactive, hybrid performance experience held live at the beautiful Broadway Presbyterian Church in NYC and simultaneously streamed on Zoom. MaM celebrates the power of music to unify and to inspire healing, joy, laughter, love and most importantly, community. As Adrienne, guest artists, and commissioned composers lead a program of uplifting songs and spoken word, attendees are encouraged to join in and lift their voices, whether they are attending in person or on Zoom (on mute, of course). 

Meet the Team:

Adrienne Danrich, creator, host & executive producer
Meagan Brus, lead creative content producer
Joelle Lamarre, lead creative consultant
Anne Hiatt, Opera on Tap producer

Music as the Message is produced by Adrienne Danrich and Opera on Tap, in association with Broadway Presbyterian Church. Free to the public, goodwill offerings accepted. Learn more here: https://operaontap.org/music-as-the-message

www.operaontap.org | www.facebook.com/operaontap.nyc | www.twitter.com/operaontapnyc | www.instagram.com/operaontap

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Opera on Tap wins another competitive grant from Infosys Foundation USA to implement a research and development lab for its STEAM-based educational programming.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JUNE 2023
Press Contact: press@operaontap.com

Opera on Tap (OOT) is thrilled to announce a major grant from Infosys Foundation USA to fund an addition to the Playground Opera program, OPERA MAKER LAB: a space for our education team to work with Makers and STEM-based educators to introduce students to STEM/STEAM through imaginative, magical, and operatic ways.

Launching officially in January of 2024, OPERA MAKER LAB is a collaborative effort by OOT and its inaugural partners, Makey Makey/Joylabz (JL), and Professor Adam Maltese and the MILL Makerspace + Uplands Maker Mobile of Indiana University’s (IU) School of Education. Students will be encouraged to create their own music and invent their own instruments by using the JL team’s Makey Makey Music Education Activity Kits: a developed set of projects, activities, products, and free online apps that music educators around the country will find engaging and easy to implement. With Professor Adam Maltese’s team, OOT will collaborate with IU’s famed School of Education and other organizations to create a hands-on summer camp for ‘opera-maker’ learning, serving rural communities surrounding the University and leveraging OOT’s OperaCades as a tool for maker and theatrical production-learning.

Through our inaugural partnership with Chibitronics and Infosys Foundation USA, OOT has already begun to deepen its commitment to Computer Science and Maker learning by welcoming the Playground Opera program to 12 U.S. States and 400 Title 1 classrooms. OPERA MAKER LAB will benefit from the vast distribution network we have already put in place and are continuing to build to expand STEAM-based learning tools to classrooms across the country.

OOT is currently developing OPERA MAKER LAB collaborations with Elementari to allow students to create narrations for the opera films they help us produce, along with Deaf Kids Code, who will assist us in integrating curriculum resources (i.e. sign language, tools for rhythm via visual cues) and musical methods for non-hearing students.

ABOUT PLAYGROUND OPERA 

Playground Opera is a 2021 Infymaker Award-winning STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) interdisciplinary program that emphasizes music and media concepts with life and career skills. The cornerstone of this popular Opera on Tap program is the National Education Foundation’s “Four Cs”: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity–and prioritizes active learning in order to create a participatory, interactive experience for a broad and diverse student community. To create a more active student engagement beyond passive viewing of videos, we explore innovative approaches to real- time interaction between students and our teaching artists, and our episodic curriculum is thoughtfully designed to be accessible and relatable to the 21st century learner by immersing students in every aspect of the creation, production and performance of an opera. In upcoming productions we will be utilizing game engine design and using virtual world-building tools to further immerse our students into the art form. 

ABOUT INFOSYS FOUNDATION USA 

Infosys Foundation USA was established in 2015 with the mission of expanding computer science and maker education to K-12 students and teachers across the United States, with a specific focus on increasing access to underrepresented communities. The Foundation achieves impact through delivering professional development programs for teachers, partnering with leading nonprofits, and delivering innovative media campaigns that inspire everyone to be creators, not just consumers, of technology. To learn more visit: https://www.infosys.org/infosys-foundation-usa/about.html 

ABOUT MAKEY MAKEY/JOYLABZ

Makey Makey was originally conceived as an academic and artistic project initiated by two students at MIT Media Lab under the advisorship of Mitch Resnick. Now, it’s both a business and a project with thousands of community collaborators, with more joining the ranks of inventors everyday. The creators believe that everyone is creative, inventive, and imaginative, and that everyone can create the future and change the world. In fulfillment of this belief, they have dedicated their lives to making easy-to-use invention kits.

ABOUT PROFESSOR ADAM MALTESE

Professor Adam Maltese’s current research involves collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data regarding student experiences, performance and engagement in science education from elementary school through graduate school. He currently teaches courses in secondary science methods and graduate seminars at the School of Education around making and the development of interest in STEM education. In addition, he leads a seminar for doctoral students in STEM fields who plan to pursue academic careers and are interested in improving their teaching practices based on research.

ABOUT CHIBITRONICS 

Chibitronics blends circuit building and programming with arts and crafts. They make circuit stickers and other tools for educators, artists and crafters so everyone can create and design their own expressive electronics. Through Chibitronics’ community, tutorials and resources, educators can seamlessly integrate art, STEM, social studies, and language arts. Students can create interactive artwork, illuminate haikus, map the stars and the world around them, invent cardboard arcades and paper cities, and much more. To learn more visit: https://chibitronics.com/ 

ABOUT OPERA ON TAP 

Opera on Tap began as a small monthly gathering of ambitious, classically-trained singers looking for more performance opportunities. OOT has grown into a producing organization that has gained a loyal audience base and national recognition as an innovative force on the classical music scene. Through its Chapter program, which now has twenty-five vibrant national and international chapters, OOT has created the world’s largest network of operatic performers, creators, and supporters. Visit our chapter page to view our chapters. Along the way, Opera on Tap has developed the Immersive Opera Project, New Brew, and other programming that commissions living composers, and performs works of contemporary composers. Our flagship education program, Playground Opera, educates children in the world of opera, music and theatre across the globe. We are headquartered as a national organization in Brooklyn, NY and, in addition to supporting our chapters around the world, present locally produced programs intended to adhere to our mission of community engagement through opera. 

***** 

For more information visit https://playground.operaontap.org 

Are you an educator who wants to see if your school qualifies for free programming?

Fill out the form here.


Opera on Tap launches the George Shirley Opera Access Fund with lead support from Miranda Family Fund.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: APRIL 2023
Press Contact: press@operaontap.com

Opera on Tap is thrilled to announce the launch of the George Shirley Opera Access Fund, in partnership with and named in honor of the trailblazing operatic tenor and arts education activist. The Fund will support Opera on Tap’s popular Playground Opera education program to title 1 schools across America, and amplify the voices of a diverse group of opera singers, instrumentalists and composers who participate in Opera on Tap’s educational programming. Thanks to a major grant from Miranda Family Fund as the very first gift to kick off the Fund’s launch, the Playground Opera elementary education program will expand in the local Inwood and Washington Heights neighborhoods, free of charge to schools that qualify.

Professor George Shirley says “Using technology to stimulate children’s expressive, inventive nature forms the core of Opera on Tap’s unique Playground Opera Program that sonically and visually weds to music drama the child’s natural tendency to physically “make-believe” and “pretend to be,” thus becoming a vehicle for exciting a holistic desire for learning. Why opera? What better way than employing in this venture the “original instrument,” an organ implanted in the human throat capable of producing sounds that express deep-seated emotions in vocalizations that precede the acquisition of words and are arguably musical? Such vocalizations remain the primeval mode of expression in infants and young children before they acquire a usable vocabulary. Thus “sing the play” makes sense, making opera and musical theatre ideal vehicles for fertilizing nascent intellect. I applaud and support Opera on Tap for its innovative paradigm for nurturing mind and soul in this 21st Century.”

Opera on Tap Artistic Director Anne Hiatt says “We are deeply honored to be launching this Fund along with Professor Shirley to ensure students across America who lack access to quality arts and music education can participate in our program.  And we are so grateful to receive this important leadership grant from the Miranda Family Fund to launch it. This gift from a family that is seminal to the performing arts industry here in NYC is a wonderful vote of confidence in the important work we are doing to provide free access to quality arts education, and performance opportunities.”

Patrons of arts and music education can learn more about the George Shirley Access Fund and make contributions here:
https://playground.operaontap.org/george-shirley-opera-access-fund/

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ABOUT PLAYGROUND OPERA
Playground Opera is a 2021 Infymaker Award-winning STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) interdisciplinary program that emphasizes music and media concepts with life and career skills. The cornerstone of this popular Opera on Tap program is the National Education Foundation’s “Four Cs”: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity–and prioritizes active learning in order to create a participatory, interactive experience for a broad and diverse student community. Every Playground Opera curriculum culminates in a “red-carpet event” where students get to perform, for their communities, alongside professional opera singers on the big screen. Designed specifically for 3rd-5th grade students, Playground Opera includes an interactive digital portal that allows teachers, parents, and caregivers to equitably facilitate arts education. Our episodic curriculum is designed to immerse students in every aspect of the creation, production and performance of an opera. By creating new children’s productions and re-imagining canonized repertoire to amplify diverse voices, we have created opportunities for a vast array of emerging and professional artists and Teaching Artists who face barriers in traditional models of opera and arts education. Learn more by watching the program trailer.

ABOUT GEORGE SHIRLEY
Born in Indianapolis, Indiana on April 18, 1934, the American tenor and teacher, George Irving Shirley, began music lessons at age 6, when his family relocated to Detroit, Michigan. He was active as a vocalist at churches in the area and as a baritone horn player in a local band. He entered Wayne State University in Detroit as a music education major, receiving his bachelor’s degree in 1955. He was drafted into the military the following year and became the first African-American member of the United States Army Chorus. 

After his discharge in 1959, he continued studying voice in Washington, D.C.; then he moved to New York where his professional career began. George Shirley made his debut with a small opera troupe at Woodstock, New York in a production of Die Fledermaus. He then traveled to Italy and made his European debut as Rodolfo Puccini’s popular opera, La Boheme. In 1961, he won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions by performing Nessun dorma, beginning an eleven-year association with the house. While at the Met, he sang 28 different roles from 26 operas, especially those of Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Strauss and Wagner. He has recorded for RCA, Columbia, Decca, Angel, Vanguard, CRI, and Philips and received a Grammy Award in 1968 for his role of Ferrando in the RCA recording of Mozart’s Così fan tutte. George Shirley became involved with education, and taught at the University of Maryland from 1980 until he accepted a position at the University of Michigan in 1987. He remains a staunch advocate for arts education.

ABOUT THE MIRANDA FAMILY FUND
For over 40 years, Luis A. Miranda, Jr. and Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda have championed community activism, through the Miranda Family Foundation, they have created and supported institutions focused on underserved populations in Upper Manhattan, communities throughout NYC, across the country, and in Puerto Rico. In order to develop a pipeline of the next generation of artists, the Miranda Family has created professional development and training opportunities for young artists of color through partnerships with arts institutions throughout the country. Closer to home the family is focused on improving access to arts education in their own neighborhoods of Washington Heights and Inwood. To learn more visit: https://www.linmanuel.com/advocacy/

ABOUT OPERA ON TAP
Opera on Tap began as a small monthly gathering of ambitious, classically-trained singers looking for more performance opportunities. OOT has grown into a producing organization that has gained a loyal audience base and national recognition as an innovative force on the classical music scene. Through its Chapter program, which now has thirty-five vibrant national and international chapters, OOT has created the world’s largest network of operatic performers, creators, and supporters. Visit our chapter page to view our chapters. Along the way, Opera on Tap has developed the Immersive Opera Project, New Brew, and other programming that commissions living composers, performs works of contemporary composers. Our flagship education program, Playground Opera, educates children in the world of opera, music and theatre across the globe. We are headquartered as a national organization in Brooklyn, NY and, in addition to supporting our chapters around the world, present locally produced programs intended to adhere to our mission of community engagement through opera.

*****

For more information visit

https://playground.operaontap.org/george-shirley-opera-access-fund/


Opera on Tap receives $250,000 from The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to fund an innovative immersive opera project in partnership with HERE.
Photo credit: Paula Court; Soprano Adrienne Danrich, Baritone Eric McKeever and Mezzo-soprano Mikki Sodergren perform in the premiere production of LOOKING AT YOU, at HERE in NYC, September 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MARCH 2023
Press Contact: press@operaontap.com

Opera on Tap and HERE are thrilled to announce a major grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to fund the development of  LOOKING AT YOU, an immersive techno-noir opera by composer Kamala Sankaram and librettist Rob Handel, developed with and directed by Kristin Marting,  which confronts the serious issue of privacy in our digitized society. In addition the grant will support the development of a research project around the opera, led by leading privacy expert Professor Alessandro Acquisti and the Privacy Economics Experiments Lab of Carnegie Mellon University.

Set inside a corporate headquarters, LOOKING AT YOU exposes urgent questions of our time regarding Internet privacy and surveillance capitalism in this highly charged story of love, espionage, and cyber-surveillance, fusing a 21st century whistle-blower with CASABLANCA. Integral to the opera is a provocative data-mining component where audience members’ data is mined before the show, then used in the show itself, weaving it into the story, viscerally alerting and exposing the audience to the reality of today’s digital world: a space where strangers may be identified in public spaces, where their data is publicly available; and where sensitive information may be inferred starting from entirely publicly available data. The opera’s message is to inform and sensitize individuals about the true capabilities of modern data-mining, privacy-eroding technologies, using the audience-data-opera interaction to enlighten viewers better than any websites’ privacy policies or traditional articles can ever accomplish.

The leadership gift of $250,000 from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation will support major advancements in the opera’s mining technology, along with critical research and educational components to inform the public about technology’s serious impact in terms of awareness, sensitization, dissemination, and privacy paradoxes. Opera on Tap’s Founder and Artistic Director, Anne Hiatt explained “The Sloan Foundation’s generous gift is truly a game-changer to foster more sophisticated technological components which are the hallmark of LOOKING AT YOU; these advancements will greatly elevate the immersive artistic experience for future audiences and will provide insightful research that could significantly influence how we implement privacy laws.”  

Doron Weber, Vice President and Program Director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation stated: “LOOKING AT YOU fuses art and technology into a powerful platform for entertainment, education and social awareness about the continuing erosion of our privacy. Sloan’s program in Public Understanding of Science and Technology supports an array of multi-media art forms as well as special initiatives to protect consumer privacy and security in the digital age. We’re delighted to partner with Opera on Tap in this original and important project.”

Originally commissioned and produced by HERE, and co-produced by Opera on Tap in association with Experiments in Opera, LOOKING AT YOU was conceived by Kamala Sankaram and Rob Handel and developed with and directed by Kristin Marting (Founding Artistic Director of HERE). The opera premiered on September 6, 2019 and ran through September 21 at HERE in New York City. Kristin has 25 years of experience directing hybrid works of theatre that incorporate technology and live performance. Her works have appeared on national and international stages to critical acclaim. Of this work, Kristin stated: “Looking at You is an imaginative, engaging and innovative way into examining and combatting the steady and scary erosion of our individual privacy online“. Kristin is the Principal Investigator overseeing all aspects of integration of data-mining with the creative content, narrative, and experience of the opera.

Photo credit: Paula Court; Mezzo-soprano Blythe Gaissert performs the lead role of Dorothy in the premiere production of LOOKING AT YOU, at HERE in NYC, September 2019

The data-mining integration within the show and the research project that is being developed around the presentation of the opera is led by Alessandro Acquisti and Ralph Gross, both experts in the field of privacy and researchers at Carnegie Mellon’s Privacy Economics Experiments (PEEX) Lab. Alessandro is the Trustees Professor of Information Technology at Carnegie Mellon University and will join our team for this project. His work has spearheaded the investigation of privacy and disclosure behavior in online social networks and the application of economics and behavioral economics to the study of privacy. Of this project, Alessandro stated “the ties between LOOKING AT YOU and privacy research on social media run deep – the very plot of the Opera relates to findings from studies on Facebook and face recognition Ralph Gross and I conducted at Carnegie Mellon University. We are excited to push those ties deeper – bringing the technologies we studied in our research into the very interaction with the live audiences of LAY.” Alessandro has testified before the US Congress on privacy issues. His findings have been featured in international media outlets, including The Economist, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Financial Times, Wired, CNN, and 60 Minutes.

ABOUT ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a New York based, philanthropic, not-for-profit institution that makes grants in three areas: research in science, technology, and economics; quality and diversity of scientific institutions; and public engagement with science. Sloan’s pioneering program in Public Understanding of Science and Technology, directed by Doron Weber, aims to enrich people’s lives through a keener appreciation of our increasingly scientific and technological world and to humanize the lives of the men and women working as scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. The goal is to integrate the two cultures of science and the humanities by supporting an array of original works such as books, radio, television, film, theater, and new media and to support special initiatives that strengthen science as a social good. For more information visit sloan.org or follow @SloanPublic on Twitter or Facebook.

ABOUT HERE

Since 1993, HERE builds an inclusive community that nurtures artists of all backgrounds as they disrupt conventional expectations to create innovative performances in theatre, dance, music, puppetry, media, and visual art. By providing these genre-blending artists with an adaptive, flexible home for developing and producing their work, we share a range of perspectives reflective of the complexity of our city. HERE welcomes curious audiences to witness groundbreaking performances, responsive to the world in which we live, at free and affordable prices. To learn more visit: https://here.org

ABOUT OPERA ON TAP

Opera on Tap began as a small monthly gathering of ambitious, classically-trained singers looking for more performance opportunities. OOT has grown into a producing organization that has gained a loyal audience base and national recognition as an innovative force on the classical music scene. Through its Chapter program, which now has thirty vibrant national and international chapters, OOT has created one of the world’s largest networks of operatic performers, creators, and supporters. Along the way, Opera on Tap has developed the Immersive Opera Project, New Brew, and other programming that commissions living composers, and performs works of contemporary composers. Our flagship education program, Playground Opera, educates children in the world of opera, music and theatre across the globe. We are headquartered as a national organization in Brooklyn, NY and, in addition to supporting our chapters around the world, present locally produced programs intended to adhere to our mission of community engagement through opera.

*****

For more information visit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Opera on Tap Colorado is playing your JAM (and making an exciting, top secret announcement) at their annual fundraiser show November 19
Opera greatest hits show + fab silent auction at Enigma Bazaar, November 19, 2022, 6 p.m.

Denver, CO, November 1, 2022 — Hear that? They’re playing your jam! There are so many toe-tapping, hum-along tunes from operas that are just a seamless part of our lives. (Think—“Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit!”) For their annual fundraiser show and silent auction, Opera on Tap Colorado brings you operatic greatest hits, some of the best bops of all time, to stage at Enigma Bazaar in west Denver—all to fundraise for a unique cause. Every dollar raised supports scholarships for local singers and enables Opera on Tap Colorado to produce monthly shows, pop-up events and other innovative operatic experiences in accessible spaces at affordable prices. Tickets are on sale now: $10 at the door, $8 in advance.

“If you’re looking to experience something new and different, this show will surprise you in all the best ways,” says Opera on Tap Co-Manager Margaret Siegrist. “This is our first live fundraiser show since Covid, and you better believe we’re ready to burst out singing (for our supper)!”

The event lineup includes a two-hour bar show, an impressive silent auction and the announcement of an upcoming landmark project. In more than 10 years producing in the Denver area, Opera on Tap Colorado has been widely recognized for creating fresh and innovative performances like the circus arts-studded “Variety Show” in April 2022 or Covid-era TikTok operas project. There is still much more operatic adventure yet to come from this charming troupe of bar-side artists.

Regarding the silent auction, supporters can look forward to an attractive list of items including:

  • Luxe family portrait session with Vita Brevis Fine Art
  • Avalanche memorabilia signed by the Stanley Cup-winning team
  • Artwork by Colorado-born artist and designer Grace Jensen
  • Food and craft beer packages
  • Custom, therapeutic massage package
  • Tickets to see great art
  • Tickets to see fun shows
  • AND MORE
  • Opera on Tap is still accepting contributions to the silent auction, and prospective donors are invited to email colorado@operaontap.com.

Opera Bops takes place at West Denver art bar Enigma Bazaar as part of Opera on Tap’s monthly themed show series. Shows run 6–8 p.m. on third Saturdays of the month (some occasional exceptions).

OPERA BOPS Fundraiser
Show + Silent Auction

Saturday, November 19, 2022, 6:00–8:00 p.m.
Enigma Bazaar, 4923 W 38th Ave, Denver, CO 80212
Food and beverages available to purchase.
$10 at the door, $8 in advance

Tickets: ​https://opera-on-tap_opera-bops-fundraiser_nov19.eventbrite.com

About Opera on Tap Colorado

Opera on Tap was founded in New York City in 2005 when a few singers, out for a drink in Brooklyn, wondered what it would be like if classical singers could gig at local bars like bands do. Opera on Tap has since grown to boast chapters in cities across the country—including in Colorado! Opera on Tap Colorado brings opera to unexpected places throughout the state, offering audiences exceptional music by outstanding singers and giving professional singers the opportunity to sing regularly in public in a welcoming, supportive atmosphere. While casual and even raucous, Opera on Tap is not an open mic. Monthly shows focus on a loose topical theme, and singers choose music they love that ties in. It’s like an operatic sampler plate! Audiences can expect top notch performers singing music from great operas and musical works—often with a drink in hand. The organization is also a passionate champion of new opera and innovative performances/collaborations of all kinds.

Featured Singers:

Kathleen Allen, Julie Silver Campbell*, Phoenix Gayles, Alexis Haro, Beth Jacobs, Dana Kinney, Ekaterina Kotcherguina, Shannon McAleb, Megan Mellenthien, Elizabeth Mirandi, John Murray, Thomas Poole, Leslie Ratner, Chad Reagan, Jerome Síbulo*, Margaret Siegrist*, Alex Sierra 

*Opera on Tap Co-managers

Pianist: Mallory Bernstein

www.operaontap.com/colorado

www.facebook.com/ootco | www.twitter.com/ootco | www.instagram.com/operaontapco

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Opera on Tap receives lead funding from Infosys Foundation USA to integrate technology advancements to its Playground Opera program.

AUGUST 2022 – Opera on Tap is thrilled to announce a major grant from Infosys Foundation USA to fund an augmented version of its popular Playground Opera education program. Reimagined as Playground Operatronics, the program will be available to 400 Title 1 classrooms, serving 12,000 students and 400 classroom teachers, at no cost to the participating schools. The Playground Operatronics curriculum includes all of the existing Playground Opera lessons plus the integration of new technology. Opera on Tap is excited to enter into a partnership with Chibitronics, also a longtime curriculum partner of Infosys Foundation USA for their signature Pathfinders Institute, to facilitate the creation and distribution of this new technology. Chibitronics blends circuit building with arts and crafts using paper circuits so everyone can create and design their own expressive electronics. Using Chibitronics tool kits, students can learn to code and create electronic costume and prop assets such as crowns that light up as well as background scenery that blink and illuminate their opera video performances for their final project.  The first of its kind, this exciting new collaboration between Opera on Tap’s Playground Opera program and Chibitronics’ circuit technologies will be delivered and promoted in partnership with the Infosys Foundation’s Pathfinders Online Institute digital learning platform.

OOT Artistic Director Anne Hiatt says “we are so honored to receive this important leadership grant from the Infosys Foundation USA. This critical funding will truly be an arts education  game-changer, allowing us to bring STEAM-based learning to more diverse communities, and provide every learner with direct access to key skill sets that will one day be highly-desirable in the tech and creative economies.” Kate Maloney, Executive Director of Infosys Foundation USA affirmed  “Infosys Foundation USA is committed to advancing innovative ways of bringing computer science and technology to the classroom.  We are thrilled to partner with Opera on Tap and Chibitronics to blaze a new trail at the intersection of the arts and tech – and to do so with laser focus on equity in Title 1 classrooms. . We have high hopes for this dynamic program that it will ignite that curious spark in a student’s life, and transform it into a life-long passion for the arts and sciences.”

Watch our info trailer here.

 ABOUT PLAYGROUND OPERA

Playground Opera is a 2021 Infymaker Award-winning STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) interdisciplinary program that emphasizes music and media concepts with life and career skills. The cornerstone of this popular Opera on Tap program is the National Education Foundation’s “Four Cs”: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity–and prioritizes active learning in order to create a participatory, interactive experience for a broad and diverse student community. To create a more active student engagement beyond passive viewing of videos, we explore innovative approaches to real- time interaction between students and our teaching artists, and our episodic curriculum is thoughtfully designed to be accessible and relatable to the 21st century learner by immersing students in every aspect of the creation, production and performance of an opera. In upcoming productions we will be utilizing game engine design and using virtual world-building tools to further immerse our students into the art form.

ABOUT INFOSYS FOUNDATION USA

Infosys Foundation USA was established in 2015 with the mission of expanding computer science and maker education to K-12 students and teachers across the United States, with a specific focus on increasing access to underrepresented communities. The Foundation achieves impact through delivering professional development programs for teachers, partnering with leading nonprofits, and delivering innovative media campaigns that inspire everyone to be creators, not just consumers, of technology.

To learn more visit: https://www.infosys.org/infosys-foundation-usa/about.html

ABOUT CHIBITRONICS

Chibitronics blends circuit building and programming with arts and crafts. They make circuit stickers and other tools for educators, artists and crafters so everyone can create and design their own expressive electronics. Through Chibitronics’ community, tutorials and resources, educators can seamlessly integrate art, STEM, social studies, and language arts. Students can create interactive artwork, illuminate haikus, map the stars and the world around them, invent cardboard arcades and paper cities, and much more.

To learn more visit: https://chibitronics.com/

ABOUT OPERA ON TAP

Opera on Tap began as a small monthly gathering of ambitious, classically-trained singers looking for more performance opportunities. OOT has grown into a producing organization that has gained a loyal audience base and national recognition as an innovative force on the classical music scene. Through its Chapter program, which now has twenty-five vibrant national and international chapters, OOT has created the world’s largest network of operatic performers, creators, and supporters. Visit our chapter page to view our chapters. Along the way, Opera on Tap has developed the Immersive Opera Project, New Brew, and other programming that commissions living composers, and performs works of contemporary composers. Our flagship education program, Playground Opera, educates children in the world of opera, music and theatre across the globe. We are headquartered as a national organization in Brooklyn, NY and, in addition to supporting our chapters around the world, present locally produced programs intended to adhere to our mission of community engagement through opera. 

*****

For more information visit

https://playground.operaontap.org

Are you an educator who wants to see if your school qualifies for free programming?  

Fill out the form here.

a one-act opera by Oklahoma artists Chris Prather, Kenneth R. Woods, and Megan Prather
World Premiere of No Justice, No Peace
Auditions Alert

Opera on Tap is happy to announce that we are holding auditions for our second Virtual Playground Opera production, Hansel and Gretel!  Come play with us!   

The children in the classroom program will be playing the title roles, and Opera on Tap will be taking submissions for the following roles:

Mother
Father
Sandman
Dew Fairy
Witch

More information:

Our 35 minute Playground arrangement (by J. Hudgins) includes several excerpts of the Humperdinck score. 

All music will be sung in German, with English dialogue.

Studio audio recording (rehearsals w/ MD and orchestra) will take place mid-January 2022.

Filming (and rehearsals) will take place in February 2022.

ALL ROLES ARE PAID.

Process:

Opera on Tap is committed to Equity in all aspects of our company and programming.  All artists of any voice type, gender, ethnicity, age, and background will be considered, respectful of the vocal requirements of the role and at the discretion of the Music Director and Film Director.

Auditions will be held by video submission. 

Please include a (link to) resume or website as well.

Selections (arias or art songs) should preferably be in German (or English)x

Please slate with your name, role(s) you would accept, and three of your favorite sweets, and why.

All recording formats and technologies are welcome, from phone to studio, with accompaniment or a capella.  We will not take technology into consideration when review submission – we want to see your personality and hear your voice!

Submissions will also be considered for roster membership and future projects.

Deadline for submission (it’s coming up!)

Please submit to auditions@operaontap.com by the 23rd of December.

Opera on Tap Presents: The Longest Night

JUST ANNOUNCED:

In honor of the solstice and batting an eyelash towards holiday-triggering depression, Opera on Tap returns to HERE to present a female-driven cabaret of contemporary classical songs. 

Featuring commissioned world premiere songs by Obie-award-winning composer Diedre Murray with text by Samantha Nahra and Beth Morrison Projects Next Generation Finalist composer Laura Jobin-Acosta with text by Joanie Brittingham.  


The Longest Night

Everything is not as it seems, and everyone’s journey is not as aesthetic as we are led to believe.

Performances: December 21 @ 7pm, December 22 @ 7pm
The Dorothy B. Williams Theatre @ HERE (145 6th Ave, New York, NY 10013)
Tickets available November 24, starting at $21. BUY HERE


The Longest Night is a compilation of three concepts: Bitterness, Solstice, and finally, Witchcraft. The entrancing voices of Joanie Brittingham, Kayleigh Butcher, Victoria Davis, Rocky Duval, Mary Rose Go, Joy Jan Jones, and Samantha Nahra accompanied by Candace Chien, will take you through the journey of being “that girl”. Follow the story of being a woman in New York City, PC (Post Covid), and the emotional journey from then until now. 

The cabaret will feature an eclectic array of solstice-ready songs by Paul Ayres, Christopher Berg, William Bolcom, Tom Cipullo, Raphael Fusco, Whitney George, Ricky Ian Gordon, Benton Hess, Lori Laitman, Libby Larsen, Kamala Sankaram,  Kirsten Volness, Joelle Wallach, and Philip Warton.

Direction and Set Decoration by the Opera on Tap Coven
Song Curation: Joanie Brittingham and Victoria Davis
Projection Design:  cari ann shim sham* 
Lighting Design: Tyler Dubuc
Stage Management: Alex West

Performed by Joanie Brittingham, Victoria Davis, Rocky Duval, Mary Rose Go, Joy Jan Jones and Samantha Nahra, and with piano accompaniment by Candace Chien

ABOUT THE COMMISSIONS

“The Divergent Night” with music by Diedre Murray and “Apprentice Crone” with music by Laura Jobin-Acosta are pieces based on the unique experiences of the poets, Samantha Nahra and Joanie Brittingham. In Apprentice Crone, Joanie expresses both vulnerability and empowerment seen through the lenses of women. She leaves the age of the woman to be interpreted by the audience, but with a nod to changes that come with age, and societal expectations of an aging woman.  Her inspiration is found in Jody Day’s Gateway Women, inspiring her to turn a painful experience of involuntary childlessness into one of power and fearlessness. In Samantha’s poem, “The Divergent Night,” she too takes back her power. In recent years, neurodivergence has entered social awareness. Many people use these disabilities as an “out” for moments when they don’t fit into societal norms. For Samantha, this sonnet is written with her former and present self in mind. Written sonnet style reversed, she writes an ode to herself in nature.

Opera on Tap (OOT), now 12 years old, was one of the pioneers in the movement to bring opera out of the opera house and into alternative venues. OOT has made a name for itself by presenting laid-back, entertaining, and irreverent operatic concerts that break out of the stereotypical mold of opera. By doing so, Opera on Tap shines a light on the core elements that make opera great: the beauty of the music, the (often bizarre) stories, and the incredible talent it takes to sing operatic repertoire. Opera on Tap’s credo is that the power of the human voice is best appreciated about 20 feet away, with a beer in hand.

The Longest Night has been a labor of love, in more ways than one. “As singers and leaders and curators in the industry who identify as women, we have been through several transformative moments over the last year or so. The Longest Night is a compilation of our feelings, thoughts and even struggles with what we have gone through. From grappling with identity, suffering through loss and mourning from dreams that were once so clear to us, we share it all here. Unfortunately, the general public still has not come to terms with the multifaceted nature of women. And we don’t plan to explain ourselves here. In this space, we want you to laugh, cry, sit in stillness and even join us in expressing your woes.”- Co-Curators Joanie Brittingham and Victoria Davis

“When Joanie and Victoria approached me with this concept for a cabaret, I was immediately intrigued. In my mind I keep envisioning this program as sort of a ‘Wiccan Winterreise’.  They have put together a really incredible list of songs, and I am so proud that we have been able to commission Diedre Murray and Laura Jobin-Acosta especially for this program.  Audiences can expect a rollicking good time, soaked in bitterness, silliness, sadness and everything else that comes along with being ‘that girl’ in today’s society. Equally exciting will be the projection design integration by cari ann shim sham*.  I have had the honor of collaborating with her on multiple projects and her work is always gorgeous, thoughtful and truly immersive.”Opera on Tap Executive and Artistic Director, Anne Hiatt

ABOUT OPERA ON TAP

Opera on Tap began as a small monthly gathering of ambitious, classically-trained singers looking for more performance opportunities. OOT has grown into a producing organization that has gained a loyal audience base and national recognition as an innovative force on the classical music scene. Through its Chapter program, which now has twenty-five vibrant national and international chapters, OOT has created the world’s largest network of operatic performers, creators, and supporters. Visit our chapter page to view our chapters. 

Along the way, Opera on Tap has developed the Immersive Opera Project, New Brew, and other programming that commissions living composers, performs works of contemporary composers. Our flagship education program, Playground Opera, educates children in the world of opera, music and theatre across the globe. We are headquartered as a national organization in Brooklyn, NY and, in addition to supporting our chapters around the world, present locally produced programs intended to adhere to our mission of community engagement through opera.  Learn more about our programs here.

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ABOUT OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH HERE:

Since 1993, HERE has been one of New York’s most prolific arts organizations. Today, it stands at the forefront of the city’s cultural scene, producing and presenting daring, new, multidisciplinary performance experiences.

HERE builds an inclusive community that nurtures artists of all backgrounds as they disrupt conventional expectations to create innovative performances in theatre, dance, music, puppetry, media, and visual art. By providing these genre-blending artists with an adaptive, flexible home for developing and producing their work, we share a range of perspectives reflective of the complexity of our city. 

HERE welcomes curious audiences to witness groundbreaking performances, responsive to the world in which we live, at free and affordable prices.

HERE strives to create an equitable, diverse, and inclusive home in which all people have fair access to the resources they need to realize their visions. We acknowledge structural inequities that exclude individuals and communities from opportunities based on race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, class, age, and geography, and seek to counter those inequities in our work. Through mindful actions on sustainability and regenerative practices, we work toward climate justice, and a safe, livable planet for present and future artmakers and audiences.

Opera on Tap has collaborated with HERE on projects including the Grammy-nominated LOOKING AT YOU by Rob Handel and Kamala Sankaram, and the upcoming project JOAN OF THE CITY co-created by Kamala Sankaram and Kristin Marting. 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Joanie Brittingham

Joanie Brittingham, soprano, has been praised for her “dramatic versatility” (Opera News), “meltingly beautiful” interpretations (Forbes), “lucid diction” (New York Times), “captivating stage presence” (New York Classical Review), and “full-bodied voice” (Tulsa World), all while demonstrating “strength and resistance” (Opera Wire) throughout her “outstanding solo work” (New York Concert Review). Brittingham has performed at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, and Symphony Space and with Riverside Theatre, Fresh Squeezed Opera, New Amsterdam Opera, Opera on Tap, IconoClassic Opera, Hartford Opera Theater, and Chelsea Opera, the New Works Festival with OPERA America, American Lyric Theatre, Opera Lancaster, New York Lyric Opera, Light Opera Oklahoma, Peach State Opera, and Wichita Grand Opera.  In addition to performing, Joanie is the Development Director for Opera on Tap, Associate Editor for Classical Singer Magazine, and a piano technician.Brittingham’s recordings can be heard on all streaming platforms.

Kayleigh Butcher

Described as a singer with “commanding interpretive depth” (New York Times) as well as having a “pure vocal talent” (Opera Wire Magazine), Kayleigh Butcher (mezzo soprano) has gained critical and audience acclaim as a soloist and contemporary chamber musician.

Kayleigh is also a founding member and the director of Quince Ensemble, an all-treble, acappella vocal quartet that explores experimental vocal techniques and improvisation. She is also a founding member of Shepherdess with Hajnal Pivnick, an NYC-based violin and voice duo. And lastly, she is a member of LOVELERVLUV, a musical, performance art trio with Paul Pinto and Bonnie Lander.

Kayleigh received her Bachelor of Music from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, where she studied with Dr. Anne DeLaunay and Dr. Denise Knowlton.  She was a graduate teaching assistant to Dr. Jane Schoonmaker Rodgers at Bowling Green State University, where she earned her Master of Music.  She currently resides in Kensington, Brooklyn with her fat cat, Cherubino.

www.kayleighbutcher.com

Candace Chien

Lauded for her “particularly lovely” playing, collaborative pianist, Candace Marie Chien is a graduate of The Juilliard School, studying with Jonathan Feldman and Margo Garrett.  She received her Master’s degree in piano performance at the Manhattan of School of Music with the guidance of Jeffery Cohen and obtained her undergraduate degree in piano performance at Temple University under Professor Harvey Wedeen, and also completed an undergraduate there in Music Education, cum laude.

An avid chamber musician, Candace regularly performs with chamber groups Alighieri Duo, a violin piano duo, and piano trio Trio Portinari.  Her chamber music performances have taken her all over the east coast of the US, Canada, and Sweden, and has performed with members of the New York Philharmonic and Sydney Symphony.  She has coached with members of Juilliard String Quartet, American String Quartet, Tokyo String Quartet and Nash Ensemble.  Other influential mentors include JJ Penna, Gina Levinson, Lucie Robert, Kenneth Cooper, and Charles Abramovic. Recent engagements include appearances at Kaufmann Center Merkin Hall, Kimmel Center Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall Weill Recital Hall, WMP Concert Hall, Rutgers University’s Mallery Room, Islip Arts Council and Heliconian Hall in Toronto and concerto appearances with New Westchester Symphony and New York Session Symphony.  She has participated in masterclasses with Lambert Orkis, Warren Jones, and Czech pianist Ivan Klansky. 

In her spare time between private teaching, Juilliard, and concertizing, one can also find Candace in the kitchen.  Her personal connection to music and food can be seen on Food Network tv show, Cooks Versus Cons, Season 4 in the episode “Fry, Fry Again!”.

Victoria Davis

Victoria Davis, Soprano, is a recent Graduate of Mannes College of Music. She has been a featured soloist in many concerts and events including the Welcoming of the First lady of Russia with Michelle and Barack Obama and the Kennedy Center’s Young Artist in America presentation. She had also participated in the Washington National Opera’s Juneteenth celebration as a soloist.

Ms. Davis has been seen in the roles of Lady Billows in Albert Herring and Die Sändmanchen in Hänsel und Gretel in The Oberlin Opera theater. Ms. Davis is a proud alumni of Oberlin Conservatory where she studied with Soprano Marlene Rosen. Ms. Davis has been a recipient of many awards including the fifth place winner of Opera Ebony’s vocal competition as well as a prize winner of the Premiere Opera Foundation’s Vocal Competition. Recently, Ms. Davis has been seen in the role of First Lady with Opera On Tap’s Playground Opera Program. She has also performed with the Masterworks Chorus as the Soprano soloist for the Brahms Requiem. In addition to that, Ms. Davis performed the title role in Puccini’s Suor Angelica with Opera Susquehanna in August of 2019. In the upcoming season, Ms. Davis will speak on a panel for Black Women In Opera: Community in Opera. Ms. Davis will also make a virtual appearance with the Kirsten Lewis Foundation, for their Gala Performance. In addition to this, Ms. Davis is proud to announce her participation with the Metropolitan Opera Guild and All Star Outreach, in giving back to the community through the arts. Victoria currently studies under Michael Paul. In addition to her vocal talents, Ms. Davis enjoys trying new recipes and writing poetry.

Tyler Dubuc

Tyler D. Dubuc (Lighting Designer) – As a Washington DC & New York City based designer, Tyler is equally at home in the worlds of theatre, opera, dance, as well as TV. NYC credits include productions with the Public Theater, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 59E59, New York City Center, and The Manhattan Theatre Club. Regional Credits include productions with Arena Stage, Signature Theater, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Guthrie Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, etc. TV: 74th Annual TONY Awards/The TONY Awards Present Broadway’s Back! (Asst. Lighting Director), 44th Annual Kennedy Center Honors (Asst. Lighting Director), and many performances on Saturday Night Live (Asst. Lighting Director). Education: American University (B.A. Theatre Design/B.S. Criminology); NYU-Tisch (MFA Lighting Design). Instruction: American University (Adjunct Professor).

Rocky Duval

New York based opera singer, performance poet, actor, and TEDx speaker Rocky Duval has been performing professionally since the age of 11 and has appeared in opera, television, stage, concert, and off-Broadway. Ms. Duval has performed with many companies, including The Metropolitan Opera Guild, The Glimmerglass Festival, Festival Bach Montréal, Opera on Tap NY, Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance, The Westchester Baroque Festival, The Colorado Music Festival, The Seattle Symphony, Opera Steamboat, The Barcelona Opera Studio, among others. She has performed at a wide range of venues internationally including, The Apollo Theatre, The High Line, on Spanish National Television (La1), CBGB, WQXR’ s The  Green Space, Opera America, Monestir Pedralbes Barcelona, Schauspielhaus Bochum, The English Theatre Frankfurt, as well as ARTE television, Germany.
Other highlights include: The Flower Power Duet with OperAerobics, with over 30K views, which was described as “What the world was waiting for” and “what the [redacted] did I just watch?”. Since March 2020, Rocky has taken to the screen and is passionate about opera innovation. As a specialist in early music and contemporary classical music, she has been in three filmed operas, one opera podcast with Experiments in Opera, and an exciting virtual learning platform that takes Rossini’ s La Cenerentola to children all over the world. Rocky is an Executive Producer for Opera on Tap, and has a thriving business as a public speaking coach. Her clients have gone on to do TED talks, book launches, and successful webinars. She holds a Bachelor’s of Music from the University of Washington, and a Diploma in Coaching from NYU.

Mary Rose Go

Born in Los Angeles and raised in Honolulu, Mary Rose Go is a classically trained coloratura soprano and actress. Recent credits include Columbina/Rapunzel in RagTag Theater’s Rapunzel, Cindy in an virtual performance of Cindy the Dreamer (Or No Small Potatoes) with Hudson Stage Company, Hope in a staged reading of Inside Siberia (Root Beer Occasion Theatre) and Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte with Opera on Tap’s Playground Opera at PS 129 in Harlem. Other roles include 17th century diva La Rochois in La Maupin with Fresh Fruit Festival, Amor (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Despina (Cosi fan tutte), Nella (Gianni Schicchi), Suor Genovieffa (Suor Angelica), Rosina (The Barber of Seville).

Ms. Go has participated in a Hamilton Project Residency with Barn Arts Collective, OperaWorks, Bay Area Summer Opera Training Institute at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the Hawai’i Performing Arts Festival. Equally comfortable in solo concert, Ms. Go has given numerous solo and joint recitals with Civic Morning Musicals and Cantanti Project singing difficult cycles such as Bernstein’s La Bonne Cuisine, Ravel’s Histoires Naturelles and Strauss’s Brentano lieder. She also debuted a jazz arrangement of Walter Loving’s “Beloved Philippines” at Cave Canem with Guggenheim Fellow Patrick Rosal. Other engagements include solo and collaborative public performances with Tuesday Night Project, Lompoc Valley Orchestra, and the Cantanti Project. Ms. Go has been recognized by the Art Song Preservation Society, the National Association of Teachers for Singing – Central New York, the Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara, and the Bay Area Summer Opera Theatre Institute.

Follow Mary Rose on Instagram at shortnmorose or subscribe to her permaculture gardening YouTube channel for kids called Auntie Mary Rose – her last video features an Italian disco song about beans and farting!

Laura Jobin-Acosta

Laura Jobin-Acosta (Composer commissioned for this event) is a motivated and passionate composer. She recently graduated with her master’s degree in classical composition from SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Laura Kaminsky and Kamala Sankaram. Laura Jobin-Acosta is a 2021 IDEA Opera Resident Artist hosted at the National Opera Center, where she will be under the mentorship of composer, Jake Heggie. Laura is also a 2021 BMP: Next Generation finalist as part of Beth Morrison Projects.

​Jobin-Acosta realized her compositional skills by attending the Walden Creative Musicians Retreat in 2017, where she wrote a piece for Mivos Quartet that was premiered. While still in graduate school, she was commissioned to compose The Seven Last Words of Christ by Calvary-St. George Episcopal Church in Manhattan. As part of her Opera America Residency, Jobin-Acosta is currently working on an opera miniature about paleontologist Mary Anning with librettist Kaitlin Sullivan, as well as a full length opera about Puerto Rico’s Doña Felisa Rincón de Gautier with librettist Sandra Flores-Strand. Laura is also working on art song commissions for Opera on Tap and Five Boroughs Music Festival in collaboration with On Site Opera.

​Jobin-Acosta’s unique multi-cultural upbringing and singing background is reflected in her music, which can be described as beautiful, weird, and full of layers and dialogue. She has significant local and international singing experience that expands to Munich, Vienna, and Israel, and regularly performs new music in New York City, where she resides.

Joy Jan Jones

Joy Jan Jones is a versatile performance artist in high demand. She is an independent, multi-genre singer, instrumentalist, writer, producer, & model. NYC based, she has been featured @ Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, New York Fashion Week 2018-2020 & NYC’s annual Village Halloween Parade 2021. She has been featured in TimeOutMagazine twice & became a contributor to Classical Singer Magazine last summer, w/ her provocative & very personal article, The Four Corners. Born and raised in Houston, TX Joy has a Bachelor of Music Performance from Sam Houston State University & a Master of Music Performance from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. While in Potsdam she won 1ST PLACE in the New York State MTNA vocal competition & 1ST PLACE in the Classical Singer vocal competition (graduate university level). Additionally, she completed her Graduate Thesis & initial training in Music Therapy w/ adolescents. Particularly those bereaving, or living w/ neuro-divergent & neuro-developmental disorders.

Joy is a professional singer, recording artist, & songwriter. She curates live performance art pulling from several genres of music, from Coltrane to Baroque, Gospel to German Lieder, & Yacht rock to Dream-pop.

Currently, she is collaborating w/ New Brew: A collective of OperaonTap.org performers & creators that present original, curated concerts of new music w/ a focus on local emerging & established composers.

Diedre Murray

Diedre L. Murray (Composer commissioned for this event), is a Pulitzer Prize finalist, two-time OBIE Award winner, innovative composer, cellist, and producer. From the 1970s through the 1990’s she pioneered the use of the cello as a jazz instrument, playing domestically in the USA and extensively throughout the world. She’s best known for her work as a cellist with Hannibal Marvin Peterson’s Sunrise Orchestra, The Fred Hopkins/Diedre Murray ensemble and The Henry Threadgill Sexette.
Musical and theater work: score for Best of Both Worlds for A.R.T.; Unending Pain, a jazz oratorio, copresented by the Performance Garage and the Whitney Museum of American Art; Let’s Go Down to the River, a score for octet, Willasau Jazz Festival in Switzerland; The Eyes of Nhor, a string trio for National Dutch Radio and De Effenaar Festival in Eindhoven, Holland; Kamerados, for mixed ensemble, The Women’s Improviser Festival in New York; Five Minute Tango, a score for the inaugural concert at the Danny Kaye/Sylvia Fine Playhouse, performed by the Manhattan Brass Quintet; The Conversation, for the Seattle-based New Performance Group at the Walker Arts Center in Minnesota; You Don’t Miss Your Water, a music theater piece, in collaboration with Cornelius Eady, produced by the Music-Theatre Group (MTG); Women In The Dunes, a dance piece created by Blondel Cummings at the Japan Society; score for Strings Attached, a dance piece choreographed by Risa Jaraslow at The Joyce Theater; music adaptation and arrangements for The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess at The Richard Rodgers Theater in 2012; MTG produced  chamber opera Running Man, for which she wrote the original story and score with libretto by Cornelius Eady, Here Theatre in New York City (two OBIE Awards, finalist for the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama); original music and arrangements for Eli’s Coming (OBIE Award) Vineyard Theatre.
Ms. Murray wrote the score for the MTG/Kathryn Walker coproduction of the Rage of Achilles and the Odyssey which were performed at the 95th Street Y and the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe; The Blackamour Angel, an opera written by Carl Hancock Rux, Bard College; score for an adaptation by Diane Paulus of James Baldwin’s Another Country, Columbia University; score for an adaptation of The Voice Within with Marcus Gardley, Harlem Stages and the Apollo Theatre. 
Recent projects include scoring Chesney Snow’s The Soil Beneath, a streamed choreopoem produced by Primary Stages. In collaboration with Regina Taylor, Ms. Murray did the new arrangement for Crowns, produced at the Long Wharf and McCarter Theaters, and scored Oo-Bla-Dee, produced by Three Rivers Theater. Score for Patient Zero, an opera, libretto by Cornelius Eady and Ms. Murray for MTG. She is currently in production with choreographer Dianne McIntyre, writing the music for a dance retrospective of Ms. McIntyre’s career.
Ms. Murray has received numerous grants and awards for her work as a composer. She received a B.S. degree from Hunter College in ethnomusicology, and has appeared on over 50 recordings as a cellist, composer, arranger and/or producer.

Samantha Nahra

Soprano, Samantha Nahra, has sung the roles of Micaela in La tragedies de Carmen, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Laetitia in The Old Maid and the Thief, Suor Dolcina in Suor Angelica and Bianca in La Rondine. She has covered the role of Arinyae in the premiere of A Metamorphosis with the Christman Opera Company and she has sang scenes from Tosca, Der Fliegende Hollander, and Die Walküre with the New York Dramatic Voices. She has been involved in Oberlin in Italy, CoOPERAtive, Operaworks, Sherrill Milnes VOICE Studio, Le Chiavi di Bel Canto, International Vocal Arts Institute, and Utah Lyric Opera program UVAA. Recently she received an honorable mention in NJS International Vocal Competition, was a finalist in the Elaine Malbin competition and a semi-finalist for the SAS Vocal Competition. She is the creator of “A Dramatic Soprano Tries Cooking…” on YouTube, and the librettist for “A Dramatic Soprano Tries Cooking…The Opera” composed by Philip Wharton. Currently her YouTube show has partnered with Opera on Tap in NYC.

cari ann shim sham*

cari ann shim sham* is a wild artist working at the intersections of dance & technology. She experiments with still & moving images, movement, sound, experiential interactive spaces & street art stickers. Her art engages the dream world through light, movement, nudity and impossible bodies across the mediums of film, immersive installation & interactive media design, theater, dance, video art, virtual reality, xr, and artificial intelligence. Her live work and interactive video art has shown at notable venues such as Jacob’s Pillow, BAM, PS 21, Peak Performances, the Joyce Soho The Krannert Center, Clarice Smith Art Center, Danspace in NYC, Dance Place, DC, REDCAT Los Angeles and she was commissioned by the Trisha Brown company to be the first video artist to redesign the set/sound and video art of Rauschenberg’s Shiner for Set & Reset, Reset. She is actively engaged in the disruption of negatively addictive crowd sourced platforms that expect user generated content for free in a scheme to sell advertising to manipulate & influence its users and currently teaches a Big Ideas Course on “The Ethics of Big Tech and Social Media: Technoethics”, school wide at New York University. As a curator she creates spaces that cultivate new ideas for sustainable arts practices. with a curation practice over a decade deep, her commitment offers free submission and innovative programming for new artists with a focus on dance film, vr, ar, xr, and interactive installation, with the recent launch during the pandemic of The museum of Wild and Newfangled Art, online worldwide digital art museum that hosts a biennial, a store, a collection, a blog, screenings, artist talks, private events and parties at www.mowna.org.

She is honored to serve as a guide to young artists at NYU, Tisch School of the Arts as an Associate Arts Professor of Dance & Technology. www.cariannshimsham.com

Opera on Tap receives funding from the Renée Fleming Foundation for Playground Opera Educational Research

Opera on Tap is pleased to announce a grant received from the Renée Fleming Foundation to fund research into the effects of the Playground Opera project on the development of empathy and social-emotional learning in children.  Playground is Opera on Tap’s collaborative, project-based learning tool prioritizing free and low cost music education in an immersive, interactive format. Opera on Tap is partnering with Dr. Indre Viskontas, USF neuroscientist and member of the Opera on Tap Advisory Council, to develop a study that will track improvements in emotional regulation,  and other cognitive and social skills by surveying children and teachers who participate in the program.


Renée Fleming and The Renée Fleming Foundation awarded Opera on Tap a grant to begin work on the Playground Opera research project. Fleming’s Sound Health initiative, which she spearheads in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts, focuses on research and practice at the intersection of music, health, and neuroscience. Other projects by the Renée Fleming Foundation include a partnership with the Foundation for the NIH to develop a toolkit for standardizing music & health clinical research for brain disorders of aging.

Dr. Indre Viskontas is an opera singer turned director with a Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience. She is on the faculty of both San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the University of San Francisco. She conducts research on the neuroscience of creativity, and is the author of How Music Can Make You Better. She has published more than 50 original papers and chapters related to the neural basis of memory and creativity, including seminal articles in top scientific journals.

ABOUT PLAYGROUND OPERA:

Beyond passive viewing of videos, Playground Opera explores innovative approaches to real time interaction between students and teaching artists. This ‘active learning’ online platform allows students to interact with teaching artists and upload their own work relative to each episode’s project focus. Additionally, they will see their own self-created art and video content integrated into the cumulative opera video production. Opera on Tap’s curriculum can be implemented with assistance from a music teacher or a classroom teacher, and we provide our schools and educators with all the necessary support and materials. 

Playground Opera offers regular, consistent music instruction by:

  • Expanding and scaling our reach into more public schools nationally, utilizing an equitable fee model that particularly supports children enrolled in Title I schools, which can receive the program free of charge.
  • Providing guides for parents and caregivers to build a deeper community involvement even through a digital, musical arts platform.
  • Contributing to research on the effectiveness of our program in particular, and music education in general, on cognitive, emotional and pro-social development in school-aged children.

Opera on Tap believes in nurturing the totality of cognitive, emotional, social, and physical factors that impact student learning, building confidence that goes far beyond the four walls of the classroom and affirming a positive sense of self and respect for the identities of others. Opera on Tap also creates opportunities for a vast array of emerging and professional artists, teaching artists, administrators, and production staff who face barriers in the traditional models of opera and arts education. 

Opera on Tap enjoys expanded support from the National Endowment for the Arts, NY State Council of the Arts, Teach for America Enduring Ideas Innovation Lab, the West Harlem Development Corporation and Opera America; as well as many individuals and various family foundations including Friends of Public School Harlem, the Seth Sprague Charitable Trust, and the Lee MacCormick Edwards Foundation.

ABOUT OPERA ON TAP

Opera on Tap began as a small monthly gathering of ambitious, classically-trained singers looking for more performance opportunities. OOT has grown into a producing organization that has gained a loyal audience base and national recognition as an innovative force on the classical music scene. Through its Chapter program, which now has twenty-five vibrant national and international chapters, OOT has created the world’s largest network of operatic performers, creators, and supporters. Visit our chapter page to view our chapters. 

Along the way, Opera on Tap has developed the Immersive Opera Project, New Brew, and other programming that commissions living composers, performs works of contemporary composers. Our flagship education program, Playground Opera, educates children in the world of opera, music and theatre across the globe. We are headquartered as a national organization in Brooklyn, NY and, in addition to supporting our chapters around the world, present locally produced programs intended to adhere to our mission of community engagement through opera.

ABOUT RENÉE FLEMING

Renée Fleming is one of the most highly acclaimed singers of our time, performing on the stages of the world’s greatest opera houses and concert halls. Honored with four Grammy® awards and the US National Medal of Arts, Renée has sung for momentous occasions from the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to the Diamond Jubilee Concert for Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. In 2014, she became the first classical artist ever to sing The Star-Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl. 

In recent years, Renée has become known as a leading advocate for research at the intersection of arts, health, and neuroscience, giving presentations with scientists and practitioners around the world, and winning Research!America’s Rosenfeld Award for Impact on Public Opinion.  In 2020, Renée launched Music and Mind LIVE, a weekly online interview show exploring the connections between arts, human health, and the brain, amassing nearly 700,000 views, from 70 countries. The series was inspired by the Sound Health initiative she leads as Artistic Advisor to the Kennedy Center, in partnership with the NIH and the NEA. She is a Founding Advisor for the Sound Health Network at UCSF and Co-Chair of the Johns Hopkins/Aspen Institute NeuroArts Blueprint.

Renée’s latest album is Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene, with Yannick Nézet-Seguin as pianist. A collection of classic songs and specially commissioned world premieres, the album focuses on nature as both inspiration and casualty of humans. Her voice is featured on the soundtracks of Best Picture Oscar winners The Shape of Water and The Lord of the Rings.

Artistic Advisor-at-Large to the Kennedy Center, Renée also leads SongStudio at Carnegie Hall. She is Co-Director of the Aspen Opera Center and VocalArts at the Aspen Music Festival. Renée’s other awards include the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, Germany’s Cross of the Order of Merit, and France’s Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur. www.reneefleming.com