Currents of Change: previews of Deep Water, a new queer fantasy opera by Caroline Louise Miller
CAST
Lindsey Rae Johnson, soprano Lisa Neher, mezzo-soprano Brandon Michael, tenor Stephen Lewis, pianist Caroline Louise Miller, electronics |
Friday, January 16, 2026
12:15 pm - 1:15 pm Portland State University Lincoln Hall and Livestreamed 1620 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR 97201 Free Admission ABOUT THE SHOW
New Wave Opera presents Currents of Change, an examination of our warming world through opera, in collaboration with Portland State University’s Music @ Midday concert series. This free lunchtime concert features exclusive previews of Portland composer Caroline Louise Miller’s opera Deep Water, which NWO will premiere in June 2026. Deep Water is a post-apocalyptic fantasy opera that investigates rage, grief, play, & persistence in the face of gargantuan, destructive forces. Queer teenage companions Val & Bluejay chronicle the fall of humanity during the Anthropocene, acting as witnesses and documentarians and finding resilience through love and play. Deep Water positions 2 queer teenagers in the role of history-creation, defining what is worth preserving. Miller says about the upcoming performance: “In writing Deep Water, I am continually inspired by the vast complexities of human experience, exploring entanglements of climate grief with the need for love, levity and play. In this upcoming performance, I am especially excited to share the excerpt Immortality Becomes Tedious, in which Val and Bluejay reminisce and lament on the difficulty of remaining the same over centuries while the earth experiences devastating changes. ” Complimenting selections from Deep Water are excerpts of modern operas and art songs by living composers about the climate crisis, including songs from Portland composer Drew Swatosh’s Dead Fires Anthology and NWO President Lisa Neher’s major song cycles about climate change No One Saves the Earth from Us But Us and Love in a Time of Climate Change (commissioned by Oregon Music Teachers Association for their 2025 Composer of the Year Award). “The performing arts play a crucial role in confronting the climate crisis,” says NWO President Lisa Neher. “Statistics and daily obligations can overwhelm and distract us, but the arts bring people together to pause and feel, and that shared experience drives sustained collective action.” Audiences will hear arias from Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s Proving Up, a sharp critique of the American Dream, and from Gregory Spears and Greg Pierce’s Fellow Travelers, which dramatizes the 1950s persecution and mass dismissal of gay U.S. government employees. This performance is made possible by Portland State University. Featured RepertoireDeep Water (selections) by Caroline Louise Miller
"We Want to Hope" from No One Saves the Earth from Us But Us by Lisa Neher, Felicia Zamora, and Craig Santos Perez "Good Fossil Fuels" from Love in a Time of Climate Change by Lisa Neher and Craig Santos Perez "There is Frost" from Dead Fires Anthology by Drew Swatosh & Carolyn Quick “Who owns the land?” from Proving Up by Missy Mazzoli & Royce Vavrek “Last Night” from Fellow Travelers by Gregory Spears & Greg Pierce |
Caroline Louise Miller, Composer & Librettist of Deep Water
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Caroline Louise Miller (they/them) is a US composer based in Portland, Oregon. Common themes in their work include affect, ecology, labor politics, tactility, and the materiality of media, often within dreamlike musical spaces that thread field recordings, shimmering textures, and romantic melodic lines through harsh noise and clattering dissonances. They have enjoyed wide-ranging collaborations, and have been supported by numerous grants, fellowships, and commissions. These have most recently included funding through Seattle Modern Orchestra, Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, Sonic Matter Festival, Alarm Will Sound/Matt Marks Impact Fund, SPLICE Ensemble, Chamber Music America, Guerilla Opera, Transient Canvas, Ensemble Adapter, and others. Their music is performed nationally and internationally.
Miller has collaborated with writers, artists, filmmakers, oceanographers, limnologists, and others. In 2014, Miller worked as an artist-in-residence aboard a Scripps Institution of Oceanography research vessel in the Philippine Sea, sailing from Kaohsiung, Taiwan to Koror, Palau. Field recordings from the ship were used to compose the score for a feature-length experimental documentary by Lyndsay Bloom about daily life aboard the ship. Their multimedia installation Here There: (Re)collecting Labor on the American Railway, co-created with artist Stefani Byrd and featuring a score recorded with Alarm Will Sound, incorporates field recordings and video footage taken on an expedition to endangered historic sites in Northern California, and has been exhibited internationally. From 2012-2017, Miller organized and curated an annual experimental music and cross-disciplinary collaborative showcase at the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla. At Portland State, Miller co-organizes ReWire Festival, an annual spring showcase of work involving collaborations between SAMP and Theater. Miller is currently Assistant Professor of Sonic Arts at Portland State University, where they teach courses including electronic music composition, songwriting, studio production, and music for visual media. Their songwriting class is designed as an inclusive, student-led workshop culminating in an annual multi-genre showcase of songs. They a hold a Ph.D in Music from UC San Diego, and a Bachelor of Music from UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance. In their spare time, they enjoy field recording and learning about zoology. |
Location
1620 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR 97201
Enter on SW Broadway, between SW Market and SW Mill
Follow hallway straight, all the way to the end, turn left, and about halfway down the hall, the entrance to the recital hall will be on your left.
Enter on SW Broadway, between SW Market and SW Mill
Follow hallway straight, all the way to the end, turn left, and about halfway down the hall, the entrance to the recital hall will be on your left.
AccessibilityLincoln Hall is an ADA Accessible Building and Recital Hall
The main accessible entrance is on SW Broadway, between SW Market and SW Mill, with accessible doors and buttons Restrooms are ADA Accessible Designated ADA Metered street parking is available on Broadway near the hall, and drop-off is possible Language: All songs on this program are in English, with English song texts printed in the program |
Parking & TransitTRANSIT:
Yellow and Green MAX Lightrail Portland Streetcar: NS, A, and B loops TriMet bus lines 8, 9, and 17 For schedule information, visit trimet.org or call 503-238-7433. PARKING INFORMATION Allow at least 30 minutes to find and pay for parking Portland State University's parking structures are metered 24 hrs a day Portland State University Parking Structure 2: Located just east of Lincoln Hall on Broadway. Note: this structure can fill up quickly during the weekdays. To view all of PSU’s parking structures and rates, visit the PSU Parking & Transportation website. Street Parking Street Parking is available along Broadway, the Park blocks, and additional streets nearby. |