Our Team
Matt Gray was named General Director of AOP in 2019, assuming leadership of an organization with over thirty years of history creating and defining new American opera theatre. He began at American Opera Projects in 2003 and was promoted from Office Manager to Program Manager to Producing Director, a position he held for the past ten years during a robust time for the organization and for contemporary opera in the United States.
Matt Gray has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Directing from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He spent several years in New York City working in both indie film and theatre before joining AOP – having never seen an opera. He quickly relied on his background in film and theatre to develop AOP projects from the point of view of an audience member unfamiliar with opera, but well-versed in popular entertainment and modern storytelling, and continues to lead AOP with the goal of creating works for the stage that welcome new and adventurous audiences.
Operas directed include As One (AOP/New York City Opera, 2019; Columbus Opera, 2019; Chautauqua Opera, 2018; International Opera Projects in Berlin, 2016), Darkling (Center City Opera Theater, 2008), and opera workshops at AOP including AbSynth (Galapagos Art Space), Ga Sho (Numinous City) (Rubin Museum of Art), and Semmelweis (New York Academy of Medicine). In addition, he has directed concerts, cabarets, and plays around NYC, including Marianna Martines: A Legacy of Her Own (Sheen Center) and Bohemian Valentine (New York Fringe Festival). He is the co-writer and co-director of the 12-part serialized play Penny Dreadful which ran at the Brick Theater in Brooklyn for two years and the one-act play Stand Clear (2004, Teatro LATEA). He was also one of five directors on the award-winning indie horror anthology film The Moose Head Over the Mantel (2017).
Matt GRAY
General Director
mgray@aopopera.org
Topics of conversation: Britpop, Blade Runner, ancient Alexandria, Marvel comics, NYC apartment horror stories
Takesha Meshé Kizart-Thomas celebrated the dawning of 2022 by joining AOP as the new Director of Development.
Internationally renowned Dramatic Soprano, Multidisciplinary Creative Artist, Producer, and Transformational Artist-Centric Leader Uniting Tradition with Innovation, she has been praised by the New York Times for a voice that is “powerful, lustrous, silky, caramel-hued, wielding impressive ease and elegant control”, and is “Worthy of all superlatives. With a breathtaking mastery and unflinching portrayals... a vocal flexibility that enables her to acutely pass from a tearful murmur to a firm luminosity. And her dramatic intelligence is worthy of the great "lionesses" of the lyric theater.”
(Opera Magazine).
Kizart-Thomas couples her international artistic viewpoint with a vision for the arts that seeks to create, educate, unify, and empower. From leading roles with storied institutions such as the Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Sydney Opera House, to sharing the stage with the likes of Yo-Yo Ma and Wynton Marsalis, to collaborating with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway in Chicago and HBO, and developing new works (as Producer and Librettist), SHONDJ, Opera Reconstructed, The Phenomenal Woman, Maternità, and Black Caesar, she is a dynamic and intuitive arts ambassador with evidenced achievement in the creative performing arts, and a vision for the creation, development, production, presentation, and performance of world class impactful art and artists seeking to uplift and inspire. A passionate and motivated servant leader with expertise in cultivating key relationships to foster team collaboration among diverse communities and experiences, she is also an artistic citizen and fierce advocate for missions and services that broaden access to a vibrant creative life.
Currently an OPERA America Opera Leaders of Color Inaugural Protégé with Houston Grand Opera General Director, Khori Dastoor, serving as her mentor, Kizart-Thomas is also a scholarship recipient of the 2022 National Arts Strategies & University of Pennsylvania’s Executive Program in Arts & Culture Strategy. A lifelong resourceful learner with a desire to honor the legacy of the past, institute the best practices of the present, and foster the trailblazing strategies of the future, she has completed Executive Arts Management and Organizational Leadership training with Northwestern University, DeVos Institute of Arts Management at University of Maryland, Arts Business Collaborative, and Beth Morrison Projects Producer Academy.
A performer since the age of two, the Chicago native, Washington D.C. transplant, U.S. Coast Guard wife, new mother, marriage and family advocate, and radical holistic self-care champion is an alumnae of the lauded University of North Texas and Philadelphia’s renowned Academy of Vocal Arts, and counts music legends McKinley “Muddy Waters” Morganfield and Tina Turner among her relations.
She is currently in the process of founding an arts nonprofit with a mission and vision to make the classical arts more accessible by developing immersive multidisciplinary works that center the experiences of families of color to develop their communities in their own image while giving voice to underestimated creators and engaging diverse audiences.
TAKESHA MESHÉ KIZART-THOMAS
Director of development
tmkthomas@aopopera.org
Topics of conversation: Motherhood, All things sparkling and radiant, children’s books starring little brown girls, Milk chocolate, Rubber spatulas, Tea Parties
W.Wilson Jones, having retired from the NYU Library Faculty, continues his stage management career with The American Opera Project. In addition to many workshop performanes, including Paul's Case, Independence Eve, Threeway, Heart of Darkness, Darkling, Summer King, Scarlet Ibis, Séance on a Wet Afternoon, are the world premieres of Patience and Sarah, Out Cold, Harriet Tubman: When I crossed that line to freedom, As One, and Six. Twenty. Outrageous. He also serves as Governance Chair of the AOP Board and Database Administrator.
W. Wilson Jones
Resident Production Stage Manager; Database Administrator
Topics of conversation: Semantic Web technologies; playing the pipe organ
Alexa Dexa is a xXgrandmacoreXx, queer, femme non-binary, and disabled electroacoustic composer-performer creating sound-based rituals that honor belonging in our own unique identities. Alexa is a crafter and caster of songspells, which they define as intentions holding space for dream possibilities that manifest transformation through the process of deep listening. Using music as a tool of transformative self-care, they cast songspells with their voice, a collection of toy instruments to rival a playpen, pre-programmed electronic sequences, live electronic processing, and live coding. Composed to uphold folx through personal challenges, Alexa’s musical readings with their self-published Sacrosanct Oracle//Composition Deck offer space to assess, access, cultivate, claim, and share resources as we forge our own paths forward.
Noted as "an example of pure charm and whimsy” by The New York Times and "unarguably personifying DIY for the millennium" by Creative Loafing Atlanta, Alexa Dexa is best known for their “electrifying and lyrically brutal” toychestral electronic pop solo project which offers agency in femme voices where deference is expected. Their operatic works include “Bewitch Yourself”, a virtual and interactive electroacoustic toy opera for resourcing ourselves and sharing our resources, and “Be a Doll”, an electroacoustic toy opera exploring how toys shape gender identity and affect mental health for which Alexa received a 2018 Discovery Grant as part of OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Female Composers program. Pre-pandemic Alexa spent 4-6 months out of the year touring the world with their toy piano, pitched desk bells, and a strong do-it-yourself ethos. Their 14 previous self-booked tours have taken them throughout North America, Europe, Oceania, and Asia.
ALEXA DEXA
GRANT WRITER
ADEXA@aopopera.org
Topics of conversation: Songspells, Toy Instruments, Spinning Wool, #AccessIsLove, Disability Justice, Divination, Your Favorite Thing to Make
Rosamund Dyer is a mezzo-soprano from Washington State. Her passion for music started as a child and brought her to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where she graduated with a B.M. in 2020. At Oberlin, she assisted the Head Dramaturg in the production of Angel’s Bone (2018) for the opera’s first showing after its world premiere and Pulitzer Prize win. On the stage, she performed in the revolutionary chorus for Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites (2018), Third Wood Sprite in Rusalka as part of the Portland Opera Workshop (2019), and Dorabella in Così fan tutte (2020). She recently moved to New York City to take on both administrative and performance opportunities. She is supporting opera companies to ensure that they can continue to create amidst the struggles imposed by the pandemic. She is dedicated to a future where opera thrives and is inclusive, inspired and that the doors are open to all who wish to experience its richness.
ROSAMUND DYER
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Topics of conversation: West coast best coast, cooking and recipes, Steven Wilson, Skinny branch living, the difference between “hills” and “mountains”
Mila Henry is a music director, pianist and conductor, as well as Artistic Director of The American Opera Project. Hailed “a stalwart contributor to the contemporary opera scene” (Opera Ithaca), she provides musical dramaturgy to AOP works and serves as Head of Music for their Composers & the Voice program. She maintains an active and versatile career, leading works spanning folk operas to rock musicals to multi-composer collaborations, and performing at venues such as The Apollo, BAM, Circle in the Square, Dutch National Opera, LA Opera, Library of Congress, Lincoln Center, Opera Philadelphia and Pittsburgh CLO. Her recording credits include Love & Trouble (Roven Records, with Adrienne Danrich) and Voices of Women (Affetto Records, with Heather Fetrow). She is also a member of the alt-country band Opera Cowgirls. A native of the Philadelphia area, Mila holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and Elizabethtown College. milahenry.com
MILA HENRY
Artistic Director
mhenry@aopopera.org
Topics of conversation: Curl care, Fashion tips, Netflix noire, Tiny instruments, Why it’s “MY-la"
Joel Kalow is the Associate General Manager at The American Opera Project. With a background in cinema studies, he has worked with AOP since July 2018, first as an intern, and later as a full employee. In addition to his work, Joel is the guitarist of local-Bushwick heartthrob band My Son the Doctor.
joel kalow
Associate General Manager
jkalow@aopopera.org
Topics of conversation: Steph Curry’s shoes, Lupin III, Big Dogs, Little Dogs, Reverend Guitars, Flying Nun Records, Barbara Stanwyck
As an award-winning singer, writer, composer, and educator, Adrienne Danrich is redefining what it means to be a creative performer. The voice of EMMY® award winning soprano Adrienne Danrich has been described as “fresh liquid-silver”, “radiant”, and having a “sensual timbre and dramatic truth” by Opera News. She has performed, covered workshopped leading roles with Lyric Opera Chicago, San Francisco Opera, The Metropolitan Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Pacific, Sarasota Opera, Dayton Opera, Kentucky Opera, Annapolis Opera, Opera Delaware, Baltimore Concert Opera and Fort Worth Opera. She has also performed at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall & Alice Tully Hall. Danrich also appeared in the NBC broadcast of The Sound of Music, Live! In addition to singing operas, concerts and recitals around the country, Danrich performs her one-woman show, This Little Light of Mine: The Stories of Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price, which she wrote under a commission from Cincinnati Opera. This Little Light of Mine was nominated for an EMMY®, and, additionally, Ms. Danrich was personally nominated and subsequently won an EMMY® for on-camera talent as performer and narrator. Distinctive in her talent and charisma, Adrienne is known for going places other artists have not yet ventured.
Adrienne danrich
Executive Producer & Creator of the original series, Music as the Message
Topics of conversation: Meditating, audiobooks, binge watching irreverent comedies, dancing with family via Zoom, Dj'ing, music from around the world
Caitlin Mead is an accomplished vocalist and new music performer. A native of Madison, WI, she made her debut as Third Spirit in the Madison Opera's production of The Magic Flute at age 15. Most recently, Ms. Mead’s performance with award-winning exhibition, Bury the Hatchet, was on display at the Portland Art Museum and the Chazen Art Museum. Previously, the exhibit was displayed at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art and the Missoula Art Museum. Other recent performances include Rava in Evan Kassof’s sci-fi opera Ganymede 5, Lisa in La Sonnambula, Giannetta in L’Elisir d’Amore, the iSING International Festival, singing Chinese language concert repertoire in the Jiangsu province of China, and Center for Contemporary Opera's world premieres of Hester by Richard Alan White and Jane Eyre by Louis Karchin, the recording of which was recently released by Naxos.
In 2015, Ms. Mead won the Alsop Entrepreneurship Award for her combination art gallery and recital entitled "Utopian Dream," which centered around Luciano Berio's Folk songs. This award sparked her passion for creative programming and she has since assisted in development for the Mannes Entrepreneurship Program. Caitlin is Co-Artistic Director of the Madison New Music Festival.
She is a graduate of Mannes School of Music- The New School (MM) and Northwestern University (BM) where she holds a degree in music and anthropology.
Caitlin mead
grant writer
cmead@aopopera.org
Topics of conversation: Your book suggestions to add to my list, cheese, contemporary art exhibits, loop pedals, and Settlers of Catan
Meagan Brus is delighted to be AOP's Director of Marketing and Communications. She also serves as Managing Director of MusicIC, a music and literature festival presented by the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature.
Prior to joining AOP, Ms. Brus enjoyed a career as a soprano specializing in contemporary music both as a soloist and as part of the chamber group, sTem. In collaboration with sTem, Ms. Brus premiered over two dozen works by living composers from around the world, presented masterclasses at universities and colleges in the US and Mexico, and recorded the full-length album, Lieder|Canciones. In 2015, sTem presented a Northeastern US tour of their commissioned transcription and original English translation of Schoenberg’s monodrama Erwartung.
Ms. Brus' solo singing career included performances in the United States as well as Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Asia. Ms. Brus was the soprano soloist in a myriad of musical styles, performing in operas ranging from Alessandro Scarlatti’s Venere, Amore e Ragione (Bourbon Baroque), Bizet's Carmen (Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre), to the world premiere of Carson Kievman's Fairy Tales: Songs of the Dandelion Woman (SoBe Arts), which prompted Lawrence Budman of the Miami Herald to write, "In the title role, Meagan Brus dominates the stage with a frightening emotional intensity. Her brilliant flights of coloratura dazzle the ear but the strength of her middle voice evokes the woman's pathos and helplessness. A vocal and dramatic tour de force, her performance is a singular triumph." On the concert stage, Ms. Brus celebrated a variety of styles from Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire and Erwartung, to a classical arrangement of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.
As a vocalist and instrumentalist, Ms. Brus can be heard on the albums Lieder|Canciones (sTem), This May Not Work and Everyone Went Home Alone (Another Dead Clown), Opera Cowgirls: Always Unplugged (Opera Cowgirls), and the soundtracks for Halo: Spartan Strike / The Fall of Reach / Spartan Assault, Galactic Reign,Tom Clancy’s: Ghost Recon Future Soldier and H.A.W.X. 2.
Ms. Brus holds degrees from both the Manhattan School of Music and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
MEAGAN BRUS
Director of marketing and communications
mbrus@aopopera.org
Topics of conversation: Languages, Disney movies, coins from around the world, GBBO, Tom Silva, cribbage
General Director, AOP, 2002 to 2019, and previously held positions at The Santa Fe and Philadelphia Opera Companies and has worked internationally including Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Hong Kong May Festival and The Drottningholm Palace Theatre.
Charles guided AOP’s innovative collaborations with institutions such as Lincoln Center Festival, BAM, The Spoleto Festival USA, and at producers in Germany, Austria, Poland and the UK.
Charles and AOP awards: OPERA America for “dynamic leadership,” and The New York City Arts and Business Council’s Encore! Award, recognizing collaborations that bridge profit and nonprofit worlds.
CHARLES JARDEN
Director of Strategic Initiatives
cjarden@aopopera.org
Topics of conversation: Historic Fort Greene, Brooklyn, US National Parks, all things French
Naomi Ramirez has over twenty years of experience in financial management and oversight. She has worked with many organizations and companies over the years creating systems to track financial data in accordance with accounting standards and specific organizational needs. Once implemented these systems allow for ease in reporting for financial planning. Her perspective encompasses the day-to-day minutia of data entry and bigger picture concerns of budgets, cashflow, and audits. She has put together board governance manuals and financial procedure manuals. She has worked with theater and dance companies, scholarly associations, theatrical production companies, theatrical agents, artists, and various other nonprofits and companies. She taught Finance for the Arts at S.U.N.Y. Purchase NY and believes anyone can learn the ins and outs of financial data management and how to read financial reports. She is also an artist, creating and producing her own artwork and curatorial projects. She brings this passion to her consulting. She wants to see organizations thrive!
Naomi Ramirez
Accounting consultant
Topics of conversation: contemporary dance, murder mysteries, cats, gardening, mexican food, and all things spicy
Yuriko Shibata (she/her) is a music composer, arranger, pianist, and music director coming from Tokyo, Japan but living and working in New York. She produces various genres of music including classical, jazz, pop, Latin, R&B, film, electric, and theater. Aside from a Bachelor of Music in Music Composition for Film and TV from Tokyo College of Music, she has just obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theater Writing from The New York University Tisch School of the Arts. One of her notable recent achievements was that she directed music for the film Jesus, which was announced to be the winner of the San Sebastián International Film Festival and also the International Film Festival and Awards of Macao. She also played her song Mariposas at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre in NYC, and it’s worth mentioning that her other song Gay Icon was featured in Lincoln Center Broadway's Future Songbook Series.
Yuriko Shibata
Administrative Assistant
Topics of conversation: Fashion trends, restaurants and bars, 70's & 80’s Disco music, Japanese food, Rupaul's Drag Race, Ghibli, and Disney
Photos of Matt Gray and Mila Henry by Kent Meister
Photo of Meagan Brus by Tricia Baron