Productions and Performance Projects
Performance at OperaWorks™ extended the collaborative environment of the programs into public performance. Productions were conceived not simply as presentations but as creative laboratories in which singers explored how voice, body, and imagination come together in the presence of an audience.
Three principal streams of performance emerged from this work: the pastiche productions developed within the residency programs, the Arts for Social Awareness Project, and a range of new and collaborative works that brought singers into creative dialogue with dancers, actors, and spoken text. Across these projects, OperaWorks™ treated opera as a living theatrical form—one shaped through collaboration, experimentation, and discovery.
Pastiche Productions
One of OperaWorks™’ most distinctive contributions to singer training was the creation of pastiche productions—original performance works that wove operatic repertoire into newly imagined narratives and theatrical forms, offering an alternative to traditional scenes programs and conventional opera productions.
These productions were created collaboratively within the residency programs. Faculty and singers worked together to shape new dramatic narratives using selected arias and ensembles from the operatic repertoire, integrating movement, Physical Theatre, and improvisation to build characters and relationships across the work. Dialogue was developed through improvisation in rehearsal and often continued to evolve in performance, allowing the dramatic life of the piece to remain fluid and responsive.
Rather than presenting isolated scenes, the pastiches invited singers to experience opera as a living theatrical form—one in which musical interpretation, dramatic imagination, and physical expression developed together, resulting in performances centered on human beings relating to one another.
Over the years, OperaWorks™ created more than forty pastiche productions through its residency programs. Each work emerged from the collaborative process of singers and faculty shaping dramatic narratives from the operatic repertoire, resulting in performances that were musically grounded yet theatrically immediate. Together, these productions formed a distinctive body of work within the programs and became one of the most recognizable elements of the OperaWorks™ approach. Over time, variations of this format began appearing in conservatories and training programs, reflecting the broader influence of the OperaWorks™ model.
The Golden Lasso
2018
The Cow Country Bachelor dating competition in small town America tests the limits of the contestants in their search for love. The opera examines the pressure to conform, inspired by the questions "How far would you go to be adored, accepted, or loved?" "What would you give up or change about yourself to be popular, famous, or rich?"
Arias In Motion
2003-2016
Our format of voices and bodies in motion was conceived in 2003 to unify opera arias, art songs, improvisation and movement in one singular theatrical experience. Each year, music was arranged and performed into one continuous stream without break, allowing the director, choreographer and performers to create evocative stage relationships.
Trump'd: Making Opera Great Again
2016
In this three-act journey we meet current and former employees of the Trump Organization, paintings that come alive but are prevented from escaping their boundaries by Satan, and finally Trump and entourage at a campaign rally. Unsavory photos are discovered online and Satan scolds Trump for not following "the plan." (Performed pre-election.)
Singed
2015
"Singed" (as in burned) is comprised of three one-act pastiche operas centered around loneliness and the quest for connection and love. The acts were set in a Speak-easy, a women's prison, and a family reunion. Each character worked to find connection and love amid obstacles that were both interior and exterior, real and imagined.
The Heist
2014
The Mezzo Family plans one last heist and as The Family gathers for a celebration, arguments interrupt the proceedings. This opera takes us through the family reunion, a bank robbery at the Hi-Ho Silver Bank, and a chaotic Emergency Room where Papa Mezzo says good-bye to his mortally wounded bank- robber daughter.
Exposure
2013
This production explored a new non-linear ensemble story arc developed from randomly assigned allegiances, social rank, and relationships. Instead of a sole protagonist with a linear narrative, we opted instead for a latticework of individual stories tied together in the common theme of "Exposure."
The Cloud
2012
How has the internet affected our lives? These questions are posed in an opera that begins with a NYC subway platform, on to an abandoned wax museum, and finally to the impersonal world of the internet Cloud. This opera explores Real vs. Synthetic, the breakdown of Human Connections, and the rapidly changing perceptions of Tradition, Morality and Identity.
Zombie Apoco-Lips
2011
In the Espagna Valley, lonely singles looking for true love meet at the Zombie Apoco-Lips Bar for a speed-dating event. Some move on to a wedding where former fiancées has a nervous breakdown and is taken to a mental institution where we learn about the secret longings for love that the patients and the medical staff share.
Pride & Promiscuity
2010
The Shady Willow Pines Mobile Home Park is where a local boy is discovered and whisked off to Hollywood to become the star of the award-winning soap opera "Confessions". But he encounters star-struck women and men, and jealous co-stars. It takes his hometown girlfriend to remind him how far he has strayed from who he is.
Passage to Paradise
2009
This story of pain, hope and courage, shined a light on the dangerous world of human traffickers, runaways, and refugees desperate to escape poverty and strife. Poverty and danger is jutaposed with the opulence and party atmosphere of a New York penthouse.
I Candy
2008
In the high stakes world of Las Vegas, the Candy Casino invited clients to a special event to risk all or nothing! "I Candy" challenged us all to ask if we would gamble everything to make a dream come true, and which would we choose: selfishness or selflessness.
My Other, My Selves
2007
Andrew suffers from multiple personality disorder and his therapist is trying to identify the personalities who haunt him. We meet his different personalities in each act until, in the final scene, his therapist helps him understand that the man in jail is him.
Trey Veet, detective, and the Curse on the High C's
2006
The Femme Fatale asks detective Trey Veet's to help end a terrible curse. Their journey ends on an all-female pirate ship where the blind captain has forbidden any man on the ship after her heart was broken.
April Fools
2005
At a high school reunion, three couples realize their children were all born on the April Fools Day and they flashback to the wedding reception where the best man had a fling with the groom's mother, the bride is pregnant with another man's baby, and finally the "Labor of Love" Birthing Center.
Aria Stayin' Alive?!
2004
Nika Magadoff, former world-famous singer-dancer and now director of the Fully Fantastic Funeral Emporium and Mortuary, runs his business with an unusual flair. In his line of work, he meets some interesting characters including a narcoleptic bodyguard, an hysterical IRs agent, and a mailman with an "interesting" hobby.
Royal Flush
2003
While attending a Star Trek Convention, real aliens from Spaceship No. 2 escape their doomed planet and arrive on Earth through a porthole in the Women's Restroom at the convention. Trekkie fans at the convention mistake the aliens for Trekkies which frightens the aliens until their Queen arrives and takes her subjects back to their planet.
Nuptialedophobia: A Minister's Nightmare
2002
Pastor Tim has developed nuptialedophobia [nup-tial-edo-pho-bia] a fear of performing marriage ceremonies. He suffers catastrophic consequences every time he recites the wedding vows as he is haunted by treacherous demons, desperate brides, and lost grooms.
Aria M'Daddy?
2001
A dysfunctional family reunion is interrupted by misguided participants in a Murder Mystery game who mistakenly shoot the family patriarch. In the three acts, we meet a kleptomaniac aunt, cross-breeding cousins, a disgraceful Dr. Love and his perennially pregnant nurses in the ER, and cable star Geri Springer.
Opera Works in Purgatory
2000
Jay Wadd, the popular host of the "Jay Talk talk show, becomes the target of a wager between God (as a homeless activist) and Satan (as a female philanthropist). Jay is whisked away to the cruise ship SS
Purgatory where he is sorely tempted by an accomplice of Satan. But he is saved and transported to a cable TV psychic show where he is saved by God.
Bring Out the Bride
1998
A bride is mistakenly arrested at the altar by the INS. This is the story of her wedding day: from the church, to jail, to court. Characters included double agents, hookers, inept lawyers and a rodeo-style judge. The action runs the gamut from a fight in the jail between the bride and hookers, to the courtroom with dueling lawyers, and finally a reunion of bride and groom.
Arts for Social Awareness: Discord Altar
Through the Arts for Social Awareness Project, OperaWorks™ extended its collaborative performance model into the exploration of contemporary human issues. The project grew from Artistic Director Ann Baltz’s belief that music and theatre can reveal the human experience behind social issues in ways that statistics or news reports alone cannot. These works were not intended to advocate a particular position or deliver judgment, but to create space for empathy, reflection, and conversation.
In keeping with the OperaWorks™ philosophy that performance ultimately centers on human beings relating to one another, these projects brought artists and audiences into direct engagement with the lived experiences behind the issues explored on stage.
One such project, The Discord Altar, was created around a commissioned script by playwright Meghan Brown. Across twelve public performances, the entire musical score was improvised by the performers, allowing the work to evolve from one evening to the next. Each performance was followed by talkbacks featuring directors of local homeless shelters, bringing the artistic work into direct conversation with lived experience and community realities.
Through projects such as these, OperaWorks™ explored how opera and theatre can foster awareness, empathy, and human connection while remaining grounded in artistic exploration.
Creators
Playwright: Meghan Brown
Director: Amanda McRaven (NAACP Nominee, Best Director)
Music Director & Pianist: Ann Baltz (NAACP Nominee, Best Music Director)
Fusion Sound Sculpture Artist: Ray Salas
Cast
Drew: Babatunde Akinboboye
Richie: Julia Aks
David: James Hayden
Vanelda: Anjelica McRae
Emily: Alina Roitstein
Lena: Annie Sherman/Laura Parker
Talk Back Guests
Downtown Women’s Center
Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission
L.A. Family Housing
The Los Angeles Mission
Los Angeles Youth Network
The Midnight Mission
My Friend’s Place
The Rock Club “Rock for Vets”
The San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission
Temple Isaiah
Ian Smith – Marine Corps, Iraq War veteran & Homeless advocate
Wendy Colman Levin – Home for Good Business Leaders Task Force
David has died, succumbing to the ravages that his addictions had wreaked upon his health. A brilliant voice teacher, during his life on the skids, his students were a small group of homeless young people. Now they have gathered to memorialize him.
Mezzo Julia Aks improvises Richie's Aria during a performance with Ray Salas (percussion) and Ann Baltz (piano).
New Works
Beyond its signature pastiches, OperaWorks™ developed and collaborated on numerous cross-genre, socially relevant, and improvisatory works. These projects invited singers into creative authorship, blending operatic repertoire with spoken text, movement, and dance within devised theatrical structures.
Some took the form of collaborative works for singers and dancers; others emerged as improvised vocal recitals or theatrical works integrating spoken texts with operatic arias. Created in collaboration with faculty, artists, and community participants, these productions extended OperaWorks™’ vision of opera as a living, responsive, and interdisciplinary art form.
Vocalise
by Sergei Rachmaninoff
March 4 & 7, 2013
Los Angeles, California
November 18-10, 2016
Northridge, California
The dancer, opera singer and pianist are aspects of one Self, a self that is longing to fulfill that which never happened and to heal that which disintegrated the self.
Vocalise reflects the steady movement forward in time, while we struggle to reconcile the past and seek the future.
As part of -
On the Edge of Chaos: Finding Flow & Resilience through Creativity & the Arts
University of California, Los Angeles
Dr. Paula Thomson
Concept, Choreography
Ann Baltz
Music Director, Pianist
Nan Cui
Soprano
Lilia Kibarska
Dancer
For Now: Love, Hate, Hope, Fear
a musically improvised concert
September 18-21, 2014
Boulder, Colorado
We asked 50 people the same questions:
"What do you love in your life? What do you hate? What do you fear? What brings you hope?" The powerful thought-provoking answers provide the texts for four musicians improvising with each other, creating something wholly new for each of five performances. The musicians' different musical roots (opera, classical music, folk, jazz) bring excitement and spontaneity to this original production.
As part of -
Boulder International Fringe Festival
Kristin Gornstein
Mezzo Soprano
Ryan Drickey
Violin
David Aks
Cello
Ann Baltz
Piano
in celebration of small
by Zern Lieu
March 25, 2012
New York City, New York
Ann Baltz
Artistic Direction
Zeffin Quinn Hollis
Production
Eric Sedgwick
Musical Direction
Small steps start the longest journeys. In a world where facebook friend tallies, klout scores, and text messages are replacing true relationships, twelve singers integrate operatic arias along with spoken word and movement to bring back personal connection. "in celebration of small" is a one-act operatic theater piece with text by Zern Lieu adapted from an original article. small is the new big.
Rebecca Blinder / Jill Dewsnup / Ashley
Emerson / Laura Farmer / Frank Hampton / Lauren Haber / Beverly Love / Inez Antoni
Mendezona / Sara Noble / Elizabeth Novella
/ Marci Wagnon / Jennifer Weingartner
Full Cast
The Newest Recital in the World
Improvised in performance
October 15, 2011 Pasadena, California
Every performance of this recital is a World Premiere as the performers spontaneously create every note, every word, every story, and every action anew in each performance. Each audience contributes greatly to the creation of this recital with suggestions, props, and energy.
Ann Baltz
Piano
Kristina Driskill / Wendy Hillhouse Patrice Pastore / Enrique Torál
Singers
The Diary of Virginia Woolf
by Dominick Argento
May 9, 2010
Los Angeles, California
A choreographed performance of Argento's song cycle in collaboration with OperaWorks™ faculty, alumni, and California State University, Northridge's dance department.
Dr. Paula Thomson
Choreographer
Ann Baltz
Music Director, Pianist
Erika Wueschner, Kristina Driskill
Singers
Lilia Kibarska
Dancer
Tony Caruso's Final Broadcast
World staged premiere
January 4, 2008
Los Angeles, California
The one-act opera takes place in a classical music radio station on the last night of its operations. The station's final program,
"Opera Lover," is hosted by Antonio Caruso, a failed tenor who has worked on the show
for 27 years.
As part of -
National NOA Conference •
Funding provided by the National Opera Association; the LA Opera Community Programs; the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication at California State University-Northridge; and the Opera Guild of Southern California.
Paul Salerni
Composer
Dana Gioia
Librettist
Ann Baltz
Producer, Co-Music Director
David Aks
Conductor, Co-Music Director:
Eli Villanueva
Stage Director
Henry Fogel
Christopher Campbell
Erika Wueschner
Kristina Driskill
Cast
Wendy Elizabeth Cooper / Laura D. Parker / Bruce Wright / Hannah Waldman / Vincent
Robles / Julie Bermel / April Amante / Jayme Alilaw / Steven Lanzarotta
Ensemble
Beached
Piano Improvisation by Ann Baltz
October 10, 2007
Los Angeles, California
A collaboration between OperaWorks™ and award-winning Lux Aeterna Dance
Company. Live performance at the Anson Ford Amphitheater in Los Angeles involving pre-recorded piano improvisations, choreographed and danced by Lux Aeterna Dance Company, with live classical vocal improvisations onstage in performance.
Anson Ford Amphitheater
Dr. Paula Thomson
Artistic Advisor
Jacob "Kujo" Lyons
Lux Aeterna Dance Company
Choreography
Kristina Driskill
Laura Parker
Improv Singers
Underwater
Cello improvisation by David Aks
October 10, 2007
Los Angeles, CA
A unique collaboration involving prerecorded cello improvisations that were choreographed, performed and filmed underwater by award-winning Lux Aeterna Dance Company. The underwater film was the prelude to the live dance "Beached" with recorded and live piano/vocal improvisations.
Anson Ford Amphitheater
Lux Aeterna Dance Company
Dancers
David Aks
Cello
Across these projects, OperaWorks™ treated performance not simply as presentation, but as a continuation of the collaborative process through which artists discover how music, theatre, and human presence come fully to life together.
Quotes
I think that improvisation is truly one of the most valuable tools I have as a performing artist… [It] helped me learn to approach all aspects of my life with new eyes. Why reserve ‘wild abandon’ just for the rehearsal room and the stage? If I can live each moment as it comes, there is no room for fear or self-consciousness. I’m all in!
SUSAN HOLSONBAKE
OperaWorks™ was not only helpful, but necessary! I never realized how much I would learn and take with me once I began my career in opera. OperaWorks™ focuses on very unique aspects of performing and helps every individual singer grow from the inside out.
KATHRYN LEEMHUIS
***OperaWorks™ was defined not only by what was taught, but by the collaborative environment in which artists discovered how voice, body, and imagination could work together.***