Composers

Librettists

Dr. Lisa Neher is an award-winning composer, mezzo-soprano, and actress on a mission to transform audiences through sound, story, and vulnerability. Her compositions include solo and chamber music for instruments and vocal works in the operatic, song, and choral genres. She is Composer-in-Residence for the Beaverton Community Band. Her chamber operas include Sense of Self, and White Horizon with a major song cycle in her catalogue, No One Saves the Earth from Us But Us. Her commissioners include Third Angle New Music, Opera Elect, Opera Theatre Oregon, Coe College Symphony Orchestra, Kirkwood Community College Choirs, the Glass City Singers, tenor Zach Finkelstein, pianist Michael Kirkendoll, and flutists Rose Bishop and Hal Ide. Lisa was selected to be part of the inaugural year of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music. She is also a member of the Iowa Composer’s Forum, Cascadia Composers, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and ASCAP. https://www.lisanehermusic.com/

Jude Duane is a composer and sound artist whose music has been performed by ensembles such as the Kompass Ensemble, newCELF, Sputter Box, and the Bergamot Quartet. He has been a participant at leading contemporary music programs including New Music on the Point, the Summer Institute of Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP), and Divergent Studio. Jude is also a professional archivist with current work at the Ironbound Community Corporation and prior experience with Cengage and the Institute of Jazz Studies.
www.judeduane.com Instagram: @juded17

Drew Swatosh (they/them, “SWAH-tahsh”) is a Portland, OR-based composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist. Drew’s commissioners include the Seattle Opera Creation Lab for a trans/non-binary retelling of the myth of Icarus and Daedalus; choral educator Stephanie Bivins; Big Mouth Society; the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics Music Department; the Fear No Music Young Composers Project; Lisa Neher; and vocalists Stephanie Lamprea, Marguerite McKean, and Carolyn Quick as part of the Dead Fires Anthology for Solo Unaccompanied/Self-Accompanied Voice. Their awards include the WMTA Student Composers Awards and Portland Symphonic Choir’s New Works Competition. They are a co-founder of the PNW gender-diverse composer and music distribution collective, Raindrop New Music, a student of Lisa Neher, and singer with Portland Symphonic Choir & Big Mouth Society.
www.drewswatosh.com @auralcomposting

Nina Shih is a current student at Cardozo Law School who recently graduated from Princeton University as a history major and violin minor. Her experience with music comes largely from her violin background. She started playing the violin when she was three years old and was a part of the Peabody Pre-Conservatory Violin Program in high school. In 2022, she studied abroad at the Royal College of Music in London and took composition classes along with orchestra, chamber, and solo violin classes. She acquired the bulk of her composition knowledge from music theory courses taught by Professor Donnacha Dennehy at Princeton University. In her free time, when not studying law, history, or violin, she loves to oil paint, sing, and cook.

Spencer Edgers is a composer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist whose work spans opera, film, multimedia, and chamber settings. Based in Juneau, Alaska, they have premiered works including The Dust Gets in Your Eyes, Everything After with Seattle Opera, and Little Things with Theater Alaska and the Orpheus Project. Their music seeks to rewire listeners’ minds through new sounds and forms. Their current project, Black Rock USA, is a 70-minute, two-act opera exploring queerness, cultural identity, and labor rights in a fictional 1890s mining town. For more information go to skre.live

Elizabeth Dick Howell is a poet and librettist. She holds a master’s degree in poetry from Seattle Pacific University. Her libretti include Everything After, premiered in Seattle, WA, and Little Things, premiered in Juneau, Alaska. Her poetry has been published in various online and print journals. Her website is elizabethdick.com

Jaquay Smith – A Jamaican-American from Prince George's County, Maryland with a passion for God and music, Jaquay Smith is a storyteller, wrapping big ideas and concepts into small bite-sized packages. Smith holds a BA in Economics from University of Maryland College Park and a MFA in Music Composition from Vermont College of Fine Arts. musicmatterswithjaq.com

Ethan Resnik is a composer and pianist who holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music. He is currently pursuing his Master of Music Degree at Rice University. His music has been performed and recorded by ensembles including the Four Corners Ensemble, HYPERCUBE, Sandbox Percussion, American Modern Ensemble, Transient Canvas, Eastman Horn Choir, The Rhythm Method String Quartet, Tacet(i) Ensemble, Quartetto Zuena, North/South Chamber Orchestra, Akron Symphonic Winds, and the Mettis String Quartet. Ethan has placed in numerous contests for composition and piano.
https://www.ethanresnikcomposer.com, @ethresnik on Instagram & @ethanresnikmusic on YouTube.

Performing Artists

Kyle Glasgow – Music Director / clarinet: A clarinetist, teacher, producer, and repair technician, Kyle’s artistry is as multifaceted as his musicianship. Based in New York City and the DMV area, he has performed across the United States and throughout Belgium, France, Spain, and Austria. In the past year, Kyle performed a leading role in Scott McAllister’s X Concerto and Ofer Ben-Amots’s opera The Dybbuk, Between Two Worlds. A passionate advocate for new music, Kyle is currently founding a clarinet commissioning consortium with the goal of expanding the instrument’s repertoire through ambitious, cross-genre collaborations. He has premiered numerous works, including CopyCopyCatCat, a clarinet-cello duet written for him by acclaimed cellist/composer Clancy Newman. He continues to champion emerging voices and works to bring fresh, forward-thinking sounds to life. https://www.kyleglasgow.com/

Sunny Zhi –Canadian pianist Sunny Zhai seeks to connect diverse audiences through musical expression of honest human emotion and experience. Sunny has been involved in many solo and collaborative projects, and has performed in major venues in Toronto and New York, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Koerner Hall and Roy Thomson Hall. In the spring of 2025 she served as pianist for the Mannes Sounds production of The Dybbuk by Ofer Ben-Amots, presented at the Center for Jewish History. Sunny completed her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at the University of Toronto and her Master’s degree in Piano at the Mannes School of Music in New York. She is thankful for the teachers who have guided her along the way, including Dianne Werner, Marietta Orlov, Lydia Wong, Steven Philcox, and Simone Dinnerstein.

Mercedes Yvonne Lysaker is a classically trained cellist in NYC. She holds degrees in cello performance and music education, working for many years as an orchestral musician before becoming an independent artist outside classical music. She performs classical fusion, metal, rock, and alternative music, composing and recording from her home studio. Her interests lie in performing classical and pre-existing works in a new way, bringing out different elements that may be overlooked or ignored in conventional presentations. Her original pieces are often highly improvisatory, with elements of Jewish mystical music combined with ethereal and amplified sound-scapes. An avid gamer, Mercedes also runs PokéCello Music, a YouTube channel devoted to remixing music from the Pokemon video game franchise for cello. Mercedes works as a teaching artist and strings specialist, teaching strings and conducting research in music education focusing on social justice and equity in string education and designing community-focused, culturally relevant string curricula. For more info go to Contraforma and   RAMPD 

Katharine Li – Soprano (she/her) (Plainsboro, NJ) is a singer, artist, and writer. She is based in New York, NY and performs a wide range of vocal repertoire including opera, art song, early music, and contemporary music. Her recent credits include Leah in The Dybbuk (Mannes Sounds Festival), Farinelli’s Trainer in Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera (Mannes Opera), and Zerlina (cover) in Don Giovanni (Mannes Opera). She also draws, paints, and writes verse and prose. She holds a B.A. in English from Yale University, where she graduated magna cum laude, and an M.M. in Voice from the Mannes School of Music, winning the Mannes Dean’s Award in 2025. @kkatherineli

Marcel Sokalski is a Polish-Canadian baritone who has sung roles including Paul in Empty the House, Bassett in Rocking Horse Winner, Dandini in La Cenerentola, William in The Fall of the House of Usher, Plagio in I due Figaro, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the title role in Gianni Schicchi. He’s also performed as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Don Giovanni in Don Giovanni, and Alidor in Cendrillon. A district winner in the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition 2022, Marcel sang with Opera Maine, the Banff Centre, and the Chautauqua Institution, and holds a Master of Music and a Professional Studies Certificate from the Manhattan School of Music. Outside the opera world, Marcel is the Marketing Manager for Sofar Sounds NYC, where he blends music, storytelling, and social media. He runs a TikTok account @TheMarcelMovement, making fun videos about choir life, singing, and his own experiences in the arts.

Eman Rimawi-Doster - Performance Artist - is a Black and Palestinian woman, born and raised in NYC. She organizes around diversity, equity, and inclusion in disenfranchised communities, while using art, writing, fashion, creativity, and organizing. She learned the ins and outs of taking action and having integrity from her parents. She has made it her life’s mission to change the things that need a push in a more inclusive direction. She teaches creative writing, community organizing, painting, and political science workshops to people all around NYC. She and her husband live in East Harlem. Learn more at www.diversityincludesdisability.org 

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Jennifer Gordon – A soprano & arts administrator currently in the Mentors Program for Women Administrators through OPERA America.
Anne Beal - an award-winning multimedia artist who merges animation, painting and sound. https://annebealanimation.com/
Dan Wright – a professional performing arts photographer with 10 years in the field. https://www.danwrightphotography.com/ 

OPrak STAFF

Jennifer Gordon-Production Manager
Marcel Sokalski-Social Media 
Greg Moomjy-Artistic Director
Marianna Mott Newirth-Executive Producer   
Anne Beal-Graphic Designer
Dan Wright-Photographer