Come As You Are is to break down barriers of access in the concert space. Concert music has contributed greatly to performing arts though it has also, at times, stifled vulnerability, maintained privilege and created exclusive expectations of formality. Such steep barriers create separation between creators, performers and audiences. This can lead to the music and its spaces feeling inaccessible to those who may feel they lack the privilege, training and/or formality to be welcomed into an experience. Come As You Are aims to open up these barriers through reimagined musical experiences and storytelling in the concert space.
This event is family friendly and accessible for people with physical and cognitive disabilities.
WHEN:
June 15, 2024
4:00-6:00PM
The Lyric Opera of Kansas City
1725 Holmes St, Kansas City, MO 64108
2024 CAYA FELLOWS
Nina Cherry
Nina Cherry is a Kansas City-based writer and musician. Aiming to place meaningful, diverse stories in the spotlight, Nina specializes in arts coverage and historical features as a frequent contributor for Kansas City Magazine and The Pitch. As a versatile multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter, she enjoys playing an array of genres, from jazz to soul and beyond. With a bachelors in Music Theory from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, Nina currently teaches percussion, piano and voice lessons and accompanies for the Kansas City Ballet School.
Robert Feng
Robert Ellsworth Feng is a Chinese-American librettist from Kailua, HI who creates impactful and entertaining works that often find themselves interwoven with his identity and experiences as an Asian-American. Robert’s goal is to help create an equitable industry and a stage that reflects the diverse and multicultural audiences of today.
Feng premiered his first opera with Nick Bentz titled "Having Guests for Dinner", a 1-Act Horror/Comedy. It received its virtual premiere with New Opera West as a micro-opera in 2020 and has since been performed live with Hartford Opera Theater in 2021. It will receive its full length premiere with the Western NY Chamber Orchestra, /Kor/ Productions, and SUNY Fredonia in 2024. Robert has also collaborated with Felix Jarrar on the art song “When they killed us, did you say they killed Americans?”, responding to the 2021 Atlanta Spa Shootings, and the supernatural horror opera “You do not recognize the bodies in the water,” which was workshopped at OPERA America in 2022.
Robert is the recipient of the Peabody Career Development Award and holds degrees from Peabody Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music.
Luke “Skippy” Harbur
Beatboxing specialist and performer Luke "Skippy" Harbur is a vivacious artist known for his cross-pollinated brand of alternative music touching on hip hop, Broadway, EDM, and singer-songwriter influences. His trailblazing project musicbyskippy features different live performance experiences for multigenerational audiences, garnering community, state, and national awards. The Overland Park, Kansas native is based out of Kansas City, Missouri, developing songwriting, beatboxing, singing, beat production, rapping, & keyboard playing skills to express his core mission: performances promote safe havens for authenticity. Since November 2021 he’s written, produced, and published over 40 songs, created 8 original productions, and exceeded 300,000 total music streams.
Yunfei Li
Yunfei Li is a composer, and violinist based in Kansas City, MO. Yunfei writes music characterized by exploring new sounds on instruments and music software. She takes inspiration from the sounds of nature and has converted nature sounds into musical language as part of her original compositions. With a background that includes both Eastern and Western classical music, she is also inspired by a variety of modern music styles including pop music, electroacoustic music, and film music.
Her music has been performed at ClarinetFest, Seal Bay Music Festival, Women Composers Festival of Hartford, Electronic Midwest Festival, Festival of Contemporary Art Music at Washington State University, Atlantic Music Festival, Sewanee WinterFest, Northwestern University New-Music Conference and Festival, The Walden School, Arts Letters & Numbers, Turn Up Festival, North Star Music Festival, New Music on the Bayou, SCI Region V Conference, 2024 CMS Great Lakes and Southwest Chapter Conferences, SHE Festival, CAMPGround24. Yunfei is a fellow of Ucross Foundation 2023. Her music has been featured by News & Record in North Carolina, KCUR 89.3, Classical WSMR and Johnson County Library(KS). For more information please refer to her website: www.yunfeilimusic.com.
Heather Pryse
Heather Pryse is a recent graduate of Music Composition from the University of North Texas under the guidance of Dr. Sungji Hong, Dr. Joseph Klein, Dr. Kirsten Soriano, and Professor David Stout. Their most notable achievements include performances at the SEAMUS National Conferences at the University of Virginia and the University of North Texas, a Finalist placing in the Marion Brown Prize residency 2023, an Honorable Mention Finalist placing in the 2023 Flute New Music Consortium Flute and Electronics Category, a Semi-Finalist placing in the Instrumental Chamber Music category of the American Prize 2018 and being featured on National Public Radio for the premiere of their first symphony by the Crozet Community Orchestra under the direction of Philip Clark. Their music focuses on exploring improvisation and other forms of collaboration, as well as theatrical multimedia productions which utilize live and fixed electronics, poetry recitations, cake decoration, and other performance elements.
M. Joseph Willette
M Joseph Willette (b. 1997) is a composer and educator currently residing in the bustling city of Lincoln, Nebraska. Often drawing inspiration from queer spaces and culture, Joey (they/them) uses delicate timbres, rich sonorities, and driving beats to capture the idyllic intimacies and onerous tribulations of the human experience. Joey’s music for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, wind band, choir, and film has been performed around the world. Recent projects include collaborations with Jeb Wallace, Ann Ellsworth, Alexander Shuhan on “Rites of Janus”, which premiered in 2023 at the iconic Knob Fest in Wichita, Kansas.
Joey is pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Composition at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, studying with Dr. Greg Simon. They hold a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Troy University, and a Master’s degree in Music Composition from Wichita State University, where they studied with Dr. Traci Mendel and Dr. David MacDonald, respectively.
James A. Devor (b. 1998) is an American composer, sound artist and double bassist whose styles pulls from a diverse array of musical backgrounds. His music grapples with rapidly-changing human emotions and attempts to sort through the natural chaos of the world. When writing, he focuses on the act of collaboration which occurs between the composer, performers and audience. While having a catalogue which includes solo, chamber, and large ensemble compositions, James has a particular affinity for art song and vocal music. His recent compositional interest is how live electronics can enhance and supplement the sound of musicians in real time. As a double bassist, James regularly performs new solo and chamber works.
James received a dual Bachelor of Music degree in music theory & composition and music education: instrumental performance from West Chester University of Pennsylvania, studying double bass with Peter Paulsen and composition with Robert Maggio. He completed his Master of Music in music composition at The Hartt School – University of Hartford, studying composition with Keen Steen and Robert Carl and double bass with Robert Black. James has also studied privately with composers Libby Larsen and Daron Hagen.
Find more at: www.jdevormusic.com
Sean Pflueger is a Washington DC area singer and composer and arranger with a focus on works for the voice. His music has been performed by The College Light Opera Company, Forgotten Opera Company, Loudoun Lyric Opera, Opera on Tap, and churches in the DC metro area. His most recent opera, Brunch with the Boys, received rave reviews at the Capital Fringe Festival 2024, including Pick of the Fringe. BroadwayWorld.com said “The very ambitious and ear-entrancing music by Sean Pflueger was adventurous in scope and sound.”
His one act operetta, The Pier Point Lobster Race, was commissioned by the College Light Opera Company for their 50th anniversary season. Composition Selections: Children in the Mist, based on the Stephen King story, Do Not Disturb, an original operatic farce, and Brides and Mothers, a one act opera. Mr. Pflueger is the recipient of the Strauss Fellowship from the Arts Council of Fairfax County for music composition. As an opera singer, he has performed with many organizations including Washington National Opera, Washington Concert Opera, and Wolf Trap Opera Company.
Clint Borzoni is an award-winning composer of Ecuadorian and Italian descent. His “highly original yet lyrical music…[and] natural gift for melody and harmonic structure” (The Huffington Post) and “sweeping melodies and emotional and dramatic range” (Opera News) has resulted in international performances and premieres.
Judith G. Wolf, Ph.D. is a poet and promoter of the arts. Her published poetry collections include
Weeping Shadows, Tidbits, Otherwise, Tidbits Two, I Hate Being in Love Alone and Tidbits Again. Wolf is the librettist for the opera In Love Alone and the Oratorio After (Clint Borzoni composer.) In addition to Poems of Life (Composer Kenneth Fuchs, which won a Grammy in February 2019 as part of a four-selection recording of Fuchs’ music), Wolf’s poetry has been set to music by composers Clint Borzoni, Persis Vehar, Michael Lewis and Mason Bates. Wolf founded Arizona Spark, which supports the development and production of innovative new operatic works for Arizona Opera. Wolf’s diverse educational and professional background includes a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, a master’s degree in Elementary and Remedial Education, and far-reaching experience in arts administration. She serves on several boards of directors including Arizona Opera, the HonorHealth Foundation and The Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (President of the Board.) Wolf cofounded Young Arts Arizona Ltd., a nonprofit art organization that serves at-risk children by exhibiting their artwork and teaching art to children not served by other organizations. She is a Reiki master and a Doctor of Ministry through the Universal Life Church. For complete information, see: judithgwolf.com.
Jamey Guzman is a composer and storyteller who uses the unique power of the human voice to tell necessary underrepresented stories with excitingly experimental and innovative techniques. Her music explores themes of identity, connection, and humanity, and has been heard on stages from Los Angeles to Paris to Madagascar. Jamey has received commissions from The Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana; Really Spicy Opera for their 2023 tour of Paris and Madagascar; Strange Trace Opera for Defensive Holding, a filmed chamber opera for their 2023 season; ENAEnsemble for new monodrama Behind the Counter; Paradox Opera for an aria for Autonomy, a benefit concert for Planned Parenthood; and SONIT for a flute soliloquy celebrating Salvadoran folklore. Her operatic and choral music has been recently featured by Nightingale Opera Theatre’s Young Artist Program, the N.E.O. Voice Festival, and Really Spicy Opera at Fondation des États-Unis in Paris, with an upcoming evening-length song cycle commissioned by Opera Arlington. Also a passionate composition teacher, Jamey serves as faculty at the Jacobs Composition Academy, holds an Associate Instructor role in IU’s Music Scoring for Visual Media department, and has taught composition through the Jupiter Opera Development Foundation and Cazadero Music Camp.
