Archive
As part of our mission to make opera more accessible, we provide full recordings of some of our projects for free, here and on our YouTube channel. Whenever licensing restrictions permit us to publish a recording of our work, we will do so!
These shows were made with the great efforts of our production team and the incredible artists we work with. Making art isn’t cheap, so we humbly ask that if enjoy these free recordings, kindly consider donating so that we can continue to produce exciting, relevant, and accessible new opera. Thank you!
A note for our audience:
Sweets by Kate
A chamber opera in two acts
Composition by Griffin Candey, Libretto by Thom Miller
Cast:
Kate Mayfield: Ashley Biehl
Elizabeth Brigmann: Sarah Larkworthy
Carl Silverton: Adam Womack
Doofey MacLaran: Karen Dunstan
Mrs. Webster: Christine Oshiki
Joe Brigmann: John An
Woman 1 / Souffle Lady / Denise: Olivia Kerr
Woman 2: Katrina Finder
Woman 3: Cassidy Cheong Priest
Man 1: Robin Wyatt Stone
Golf Man: Terence Mejos
Townspeople: Olivia Sutherland, Cary Lee
Collaborative Pianist and Co-Music Director: Sam Peters
Crew:
Stage and Co-Music Director: Kate Kelley
Stage Manager and Sound Designer: Mike Powers
Lighting and Set Designer: Becca Pauza
Lead Set Builder: Jared White
Muralist: Julianna Bernado
Livestream Operator: Haley Posey
When Elizabeth Brigmann’s father dies suddenly, she decides to return to the small town that shunned her for coming out as gay twelve years earlier. Amid the outwardly cheery glow of 1950’s rural America, Elizabeth and her partner, Kate, must navigate the lurking disapproval of the town, the teetering success of Elizabeth’s family business, and her family's (quite literal) deals with the Devil. The Devil’s dirty (and downright Mozartian) scheme to run the young couple out of town hinges on his assertion that ‘American prejudice’ is immovable and that he can make the townspeople hate what they don’t understand with the smallest nudge. But – as Kate already knows and the Devil himself fears – people will surprise you.
more than friends: a triptych on queer love through the ages
Emily & Sue
Composition by Dana Kaufman, libretto by Aiden K. Feltkamp
Eliza Woodyard and Ashley Biehl, co-directors
Kirby Burgess, Emily Dickinson
Christine Oshiki, Sue Gilbert/ensemble soprano
Eric Angus Jeffords, Thomas Wentworth Higginson/ensemble tenor
Robin Wyatt-Stone, William Austin Dickinson/ensemble bass
Haley Posey, percussion
Emily & Sue is an a cappella pop opera that uses texts from Emily Dickinson’s best-known poetry and love letters between Dickinson and Susan Gilbert to chronicle two days fraught with grief, hope, and sapphic yearning.
Achilles & Patroclus
Composition by Erika Meyer, libretto by James T. Washburn
Kate Kelley, director
Revere Taylor, Achilles (Friday cast)
Jae Bernado, Patroclus (Friday cast)
Robin Wyatt-Stone, Achilles (Saturday cast)
Eric Angus Jeffords, Patroclus (Saturday cast)
Sam Peters, piano
Through flashes of intimate memories, Achilles remembers his life with the love he lost in this achingly beautiful, unabashedly queer chamber opera for two voices.
Thirst
Composition by TJ Rubin, libretto by Laura Barati
Molly Anders, director
Christine Oshiki, Jaq (Friday cast)
Cee Adamson, Jaq (Saturday cast)
Karen Dunstan, Jill (Friday & Saturday casts)
Sam Peters, piano
Thirst is a 10-minute chamber opera that offers a magical realist exploration of intimacy and the tension between one’s desire for partnership and one’s desire for independence.
#adulting2: here we go again
Composition by John Ervin Brooks, additional composition by Austin Nuckols
Libretto by Natalie Stewart Elder, Stefan Melnyk, and Austin Nucklos
Kate Kelley, director
Eliza Woodyard, assistant director
Devorah Detzer, Tae
Eric Angus Jeffords, Tony
Olivia Kerr, Bucket
Amy Korver, ensemble
Alex Luque, Drew
Christine Oshiki, Ruth
Nic Varela, ensemble
Sam Peters, accompanist
#adulting2 continues our beloved roommates’ journeys in unpacking the notion of modern adulthood while exploring the queerer sides of relationships, sex, pronouns, and more. Come see “the gayest opera in existence”™️, in an SNL-meets-Mozart format with the Onion levels of absurdity.
MARThA
Composition by Lingbo Ma
Libretto by John de los Santos
Kate Kelley, director
Eliza Woodyard, MARThA
Anjul Bansal, Tricia
Tina Tran, Holly
MARThAis a jovial affair that lifts up women’s voices and perspectives, while normalizing therapy. In this slice-of-life opera, two female-identifying roommates turn to a therapy app when their differences cause a tense living environment.
Diary of A Madman
Composition and libretto by Dana Kaufman
Based on the short story by Nikolai Gogol
Eliza Woodyard & Kate Kelley, directors
Devorah Detzer, Aksentiy Ivanovich Poprischin
Jared White, Head of Department
Kayla Wilkens, Sahfee
Megan Cullen, Medji
Biraj Barkakaty, Fidele
Anjul Bansal, Fidele (cover)
HyeYeon Kim, accompanist
Set in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1835, the opera follows the descent of a low-ranking Russian official--Aksentiy Ivanovich Poprischin, the "Madman"--into the insanity and despair Gogol hauntingly depicted in diary format almost two centuries ago.
Windows
A Set of Monodramas: Unrequired Love from Unstable Individuals
Composition by Zach Redler and Libretto by Sara Cooper
Dr. William Bryant, Accompanist
Alice Carli, Production Manager
Nick Tankersley, Technical Director
Jeff Talbot, Promotional Video Editor
Haley Posey, Audio Engineer
Alice Carli and Christine Oshiki, Closed Captioning Producers
Cast 1
Katie Kelley, Director
Anne LaBella - Count to Ten
Scott Gilchrist - Installing Your Blinds (Featuring Olivia Kerr)
Joseph Badore - Shush, Love
Jessica Soltero - She Frowns
Sammie Gorham - Magnanimous
Shuang Elinor Qiao - Con Man
Cast 2
Christine Oshiki, Director
Olivia Kerr - Count to Ten
Seth J. Robertson - Installing Your Blinds
Eric Angus Jeffords - Shush, Love
Sarah Kathryn Curtis - She Frowns
Christina Bernardoni - Magnanimous
Emily Anderson - Con Man
Cast 3
Nic Varela, Director
Olivia Kerr - Count to Ten
Nathan Haltiwanger - Installing Your Blinds (Recording by Matt Riley)
Diann Spicer - Shush, Love
Rebecca Benitez - She Frowns
Lara Semetko-Brooks - Magnanimous
Kate Saik - Con Man
Cast 4
Katie Kelley, Director
Andrea Bickford - Count to Ten (Recording by Claire Noonen)
Darrell J. Jordan - Installing Your Blinds (Featuring Michael King-Leiferman)
Jorell Williams - Shush, Love
Christie Lynn Devoe - She Frowns
Sammie Gorham - Magnanimous
Alonso Jordan Lopez - Con Man (Video production by Allais Media)
Take a dark turn into the inner human psyche with this series of monodramas depicting “unstable individuals”. Windows offers a glimpse into a myriad of twisted fantasies, which surround a universal human experience - unrequited love. From fantasizing about bashing in the skulls of rude, ungrateful men, to taking too much pleasure in waxing off your car, Windows runs the gambit of depraved experiences.
Breakfast
Music by Zach Redler
Libretto by Sara Cooper
Christine Oshiki, Director/Video Editor
Dr. William Bryant, Accompanist
Haley Posey, Audio Engineer
Sammie Gorham, Stu
Katie Kelley, Gretta
Nic Varela, Ange
The kitchen table can serve as a positive space for families to gather and foster connection. In Breakfast, however, this space becomes the epicenter of a family’s demise. This one-act chamber opera portrays a middle-aged couple, Ange and Gretta, and their adult child, Stu, trying to enjoy a morning meal together. There are only two problems: 1. They’re out of juice, and 2. They can’t leave their house, because the outside world is a post-apocalyptic hellscape of “dust and electric storm”.
#adulting - 2020
Composition by John Ervin Brooks
Libretto by Natalie Stewart Elder
Additional music and libretto by Stefan Melnyk and Austin Nuckols
Kate Kelley, director
Christine Oshiki, assistant director
Christine Oshiki, Ruth
Jared White, Drew
Nic Varela, Couch
Eric Angus Jeffords, Tony
Krissy Terwilliger, Bucket
Kate Kelley, Siri
Ava Linvog, accompanist
The Lowbrow Opera Collective returns to 18th & Union with the revival of the wildly successful farce on growing up, #adulting! Follow the journey of four roommates, recently brought together via Craigslist, through their first forays into adulthood. Ruth, Tony, Bucket, and Drew come across many challenges – mainly their own lack of practical life skills. #adulting is equal parts self-deprecating humor and a giant middle finger to anyone who says millennials can’t get shit done. Mostly absurd and just a little raunchy, the opera portrays vignettes of modern lives, from the joy of a first apartment to the horror of an icky stain you find on the only couch you could afford.
