RECENT NEW WAVE OPERA PERFORMANCES

Check out live performances from our past events for free anytime on our YouTube channel, or watch a few of our favorites below!

COMING SOON: NIGHT OF THE LIVING OPERA HIGHLIGHTS!

Our inaugural staged production, Night of the Living Opera featured the regional premiere of four operas by living composers and an art song (she conjures, The Oval Portrait, THUMP, Serial Killers & the City, and All That We See or Seem) - many of which set texts by Edgar Allen Poe, but also included librettos from living writers. The four operas were performed multiple times an evening for two nights at Raven's Manor Haunted Bar, along with a special guest appearance by Renegade Opera - providing an exclusive preview of their new Poe-inspired production, The Raven. This October 2024 show was performed live for over 500 attendees in a lively and immersive atmosphere. The recordings featured are from a dress rehearsal run of the shows (coming soon)!

MUSIC IN THE MANOR (August 2024)

Our first performance at Raven's Manor Haunted Bar, New Wave Opera presented selections from both Summer Splash and our upcoming program, Night of the Living Opera. This August 2024 show introduced a more casual, cabaret-style atmosphere as patrons could chat and dine throughout the performances.

"Incantation" & "Familiar" from she conjures
​Lisa Neher & Bea Goodwin

Coyotes
​Ricky Ian Gordon & Ray Underwood

If You Cheese
​Kimberly R. Osberg

Yo Crío Una Mosca
Gabriela Lena Frank & José María Arguedas

SUMMER SPLASH (July 2024)

Our inaugural performance, New Wave Opera opened with a sold-out concert at the beautiful Periwinkle Studios in Portland, Oregon in July of 2024. Resident soprano Lindsey Rae Johnson, resident mezzo & composer Lisa Neher, mezzo Allison Kim-Yok Knotts, and pianist Stephen Lewis performed an hour-long program of opera arias and duets, along with artsongs - all exclusively by living composers.

Mango Salad
Kimberly R. Osberg

Snapshots
Lisa Neher & University Daily Kansan

"Rita's Aria," from A Wedding
William Bolcom & Robert Altman and Arnold Weinstein

The Sunrise Ruby
Gwyneth Walker & Rumi
​(trans. Coleman Barks)

BEYOND NEW WAVE OPERA

Check out some of the fantastic projects & pieces our resident artists have been up to beyond New Wave Opera!

Space Station 189: a sci-fi opera for Instagram by JL Marlor and Aiden Feltkamp. Performed by Lisa Neher and Portland Percussion Group with electronic music and mixing by JL Marlor.

New Wave Opera composer Kimberly Osberg's piece Something About Isolation, commissioned and performed by soprano Stephanie Lamprea as part of the Commissions from Quarantine project in 2020.

New Wave Opera secretary and soprano Lindsey Rae Johnson and colleagues perform a concert of art songs and opera excerpts by living Portland-area composers in November 2023, sponsored by RACC.

New Wave Opera singers Lisa Neher and Lindsey Rae Johnson sing Lisa's duet, How Doth the Little Crocodile? (poetry by Lewis Carrol) with Dianne Davies at the piano.

New Wave Opera President Lisa Neher, mezzo-soprano, performs Oh, those faces! from Gian Carlo Menotti's opera The Consul. In this aria, the Secretary, who is the face of the cold and uncaring consulate bureaucracy for most of the opera, closes up the office and is haunted by the faces of all the people who come to her seeking help.

New Wave Opera President Lisa Neher, mezzo-soprano, performs From Ashes She Became from Four Songs of Nikita Gill by Melissa Dunphy and  Nikita Gill. This piece explores finding strength after burnout from a uniquely female perspective.

Opera Elect's filmed world premiere performance of Sense of Self, a chamber opera by Lisa Neher and Kendra Preston Leonard. Coach Naomi is training triathlete Maya for her next event, but Maya is thwarted by a breast cancer diagnosis and the choice of what treatment options to pursue. 

New Wave Opera singers Lisa Neher and Lindsey Rae Johnson perform a duet from Sense of Self. This opera, written by Lisa Neher (music) and Kendra Preston Leonard (libretto), follows a triathlete facing a breast cancer diagnosis and her coach who tries to help her make tough decisions.