MEeT THE NIGHT OF THE LIVING OPERA CAST!

On October 21st & 23rd, New Wave Opera heads back to Raven's Manor Haunted Bar for our first fully-produced opera program: NIGHT OF THE LIVING OPERA. Today, we are excited to share more about our wonderful performers who will be bringing these four regional premieres to life!

LINDSEY RAE JOHNSON, SOPRANO
CAROLYN QUICK, SOPRANO
LISA NEHER, MEZZO
ALLISON KIM-YOK KNOTTS, MEZZO
BRANDON MICHAEL, TENOR
DEAC GUIDI, BASS
SEQUOIA, PIANO

Soprano Lindsey Rae Johnson hails from Minnesota. After earning music degrees from Luther College and the University of North Texas, she relocated to Portland. Recent roles include Victoria/Vitellia (adaptation of La clemenza di Tito), Gertrud (Hänsel und Gretel), Foreign Princess (Rusalka), and Freia and Wellgunde (Das Rheingold). 

Lindsey has performed locally with Portland Opera, Renegade Opera, Ping & Woof Opera, Lark Opera, Queer Opera, OperaBend, Opera on Tap, Light Opera of Portland, Anonymous Theatre Company, Mocks Crest Productions, Portland SummerFest, Classical Revolution PDX, Mendelssohns, and the Dickens Carolers. She has also worked with Fort Worth Opera, Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute, San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Oberlin in Italy, Frost School of Music in Salzburg, and Lamplighters Music Theatre. 

Lindsey serves on the AGMA Board of Governors and is a Musical Artist in Residence with The Episcopal Parish of St. John the Baptist.

ROLES IN NIGHT OF THE LIVING OPERA:
Lead (Soprano) | THUMP
Jane | Serial Killers & the City
Grissall's Mother / Villager | she conjures

With a voice known for its “pure timbre” (Opera News), Portland Composer-Soprano Carolyn Quick’s (she/her) performance credits include Eugene Opera’s production of Britten’s Turn of the Screw, Handel’s Messiah with Student Orchestras of Greater Olympia, Vivaldi’s Gloria, RV 589 with South Puget Sound Community College, and Charpentier’s Messe de minuit Pour Noel with Portland Symphonic Choir.

Carolyn has sung with Queer Opera, Uzmah-Upbeat Summer Music Program, and Oregon Bach Festival’s Vocal Fellows Program. She is also an avid chorister, singing with Cappella Romana, Resonance Ensemble, and In Medio. As a composer and singer, Carolyn has a love for contemporary music and has premiered over a dozen contemporary works. Most recently, Carolyn competed in the NATS Classical Student Auditions, advancing to the National Round with a program spanning Margaret Bonds to Charles Gounod.

When she isn’t singing, Carolyn enjoys hiking, spotting cute dogs, and spending time with family and friends.

ROLES IN NIGHT OF THE LIVING OPERA:
Guest Soloist (Monday)
Amelia | Serial Killers & the City
Villager | she conjures

Dr. Lisa Neher (she/her) is an award-winning composer and new music mezzo on a mission to transform audiences through sound, story, and vulnerability. A singer of “great stamina” with the power to “open up and shine” (New York Classical Review) using her “full and rich” and “especially alive” voice (Oregon Arts Watch), Neher’s performance credits include Third Angle New Music, Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Resonance Ensemble, Experiments in Opera, and Renegade Opera. She is President of New Wave Opera and a member of Portland Opera Chorus.
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A “supremely talented,” “visionary composer,” (Willamette Week), “maestro of beautifully wacky noises” (Oregon Arts Watch) 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 friends, and the mystery of ocean life. Her commissioners include NATS, Cincinnati Song Initiative, Third Angle New Music, and Opera Elect. She is Composer in Residence for the Beaverton Community Band.

ROLES IN NIGHT OF THE LIVING OPERA:
Lead (Mezzo) | THUMP
Sophia | Serial Killers & the City
Villager | she conjures

Mezzo-soprano Allison Kim-Yok Knotts is from Portland, Oregon, and has studied with Nancy Olson Chatalas, Allison Swensen Mitchell, and Megan Sand.

She has performed with the Corvallis Repertory Singers, the Willamette Master Chorus, Opera on Tap Portland, Ping & Woof Opera, Portland Summer Opera Workshop, Portland Summerfest, Our Song Artists, Bend Opera, Lark Opera, Renegade Opera, and Portland Opera.

ROLES IN NIGHT OF THE LIVING OPERA:
Katy | Serial Killers & the City
Grissall | she conjures

Brandon Michael (he/him) has become the go-to performer for musical theater and opera in the inland Northwest. 

Brandon's warm and burnished tenor voice has been praised by audiences and critics for its richness, ease and versatility. In opera, Brandon has sung the roles of Fenton, Goro, Don Basilio, The Witch, and Spoletta. Brandon is equally at home on the musical theater stage, where the color and remarkable range of his voice has allowed him to play characters as varied as Emile DeBecque in South Pacific, to Pirelli in Sweeney Todd. He has sung with Portland Opera, Inland Northwest Opera, Village Theater, Coeur D’Alene Summer Theater as well as the Spokane Symphony and Resonance Ensemble.

Trained in New York at the Atlantic Theatre Company, Brandon has also celebrated his Asian descent as a performer with 2g Theater and the Asian American theatrical community in New York and Seattle. 

ROLES IN NIGHT OF THE LIVING OPERA:
Lead (Tenor) | THUMP
Waiter | Serial Killers & the City
Villager | she conjures​

Deac Guidi first sang in the choruses of the Intermountain Opera Association’s Tosca, Don Pasquale, and Faust then went on to do secondary roles in Madame Butterfly and The Barber of Seville.

Since that time, he has gone on to perform roles with opera companies throughout the northwest including Portland Opera, OrpheusPDX, Oregon Symphony,Tacoma Opera, Opera Theater Oregon, Cascadia Chamber Opera and Summerfest Opera in the Park. His repertoire stretches from baroque to 20th century compositions including over 50 roles. Most recently he was seen with Portland Opera as the Sacristan in their recent production of Tosca and as Caronte in L’Orfeo with OrpheusPDX.

​Over the summer he had performances including Masetto in Don Giovanni with the Cascadia Concert Opera summer festival, and Rocco in Fidelio with Puget Sound Concert Opera as well as the bass soloist in the Bruckner Requiem with the Portland Unitarian Church and Choir.

Over the holiday season with the North Coast Chorale he sang bass solos in the Messiah and was the bass soloist in the Christmas Oratorio by Camille Saint-Saëns. He was recently seen as Dr. Dulcamara in The Elixir of Love by Donizetti with the Cascadia Chamber Opera Festival.

ROLES IN NIGHT OF THE LIVING OPERA:
The Artist | The Oval Portrait
Agent Small | Serial Killers & the City
Magistrate | she conjures

As a classical pianist, British-born Sequoia has worked for such companies as the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Rambert Dance Company, the BBC Singers and the acclaimed music theater group, the Clod Ensemble.

​Since his arrival in Portland he has worked regularly for Portland Opera, Opera Theater Oregon, and the Oregon Symphony Orchestra.

​He also enjoys working in progressive music outside of the classical box, and has performed and collaborated with the likes of rock legends Mark E Smith (The Fall), Damo Suzuki (Can), and jazz/improvising luminaries Meredith Monk, Jacqui Dankworth & Barb Jungr.
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NIGHT OF THE LIVING OPERA

​WHEN: Monday, October 21st & Wednesday, October 23rd | 5pm - midnight
WHERE: Raven's Manor Haunted Bar | 235 SW 1st Ave | Portland, OR | 97204
COST: $10 cover charge online, $15 at the door
ADDITIONAL DETAILS: Ages 21+ only. Reservations are currently sold out, but walk-ins are welcome on both performance nights. ​We will perform off & on throughout the evening, so come anytime! Food & Drink available for purchase from the bar. Contact Raven's Manor for full menu & accommodation information.

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and don't forget our silent auction - happening NOW through October 25th!

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