Outsider Opera

10/04/2024

10/03/2024

Here at outsider Opera, we believe that our community is our greatest asset and that opera is relevant and important to a thriving art scene. Along with professional productions, concerts, and residencies Outsider Opera wants to give a space for our amazing community singers to shine. Join us at Growler Guys on October 10th to support Outsider Opera’s mission and help us bring opera back to the Rogue Valley.

10/02/2024

RSVP to sing with us at Opera Karaoke next Thursday at Growler Guys. All singers welcome (& audiences, too!) to sing their favorite show tunes and arias. We cannot wait to hear you!

Join us for a night of show tunes and arias accompanied by a live pianist and your favorite pint!

10/02/2024

Opera Karaoke (& musical theatre, too!) returns in 8 days! Thursday, October 10 at 6pm. Growler Guys in Ashland. 🍺✨🎶🎤

09/25/2024

Opera Karaoke (& Musical Theatre too!) is BACK ✨🎹🎤 We can’t wait to hear our fabulous community singers on Oct 10 at 6pm at Growler Guys. Come sing your favorite arias and show tunes with a live pianist! Not a singer? Come on out anyways to hear some great singers, enjoy a drink, and learn more about our upcoming 2025 season 🎶 🍻

06/05/2024

And welcome to our 7th and final board member, Jesse J. Sanchez. Jesse is an award-winning composer-lyricist, writer, and music director based between Oregon and NYC. He is a highly sought-after collaborator in theatre, opera, TV, and film. He is the resident music supervisor of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
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Jesse’s current commissions include working with the band, CHICAGO, on a new musical, commissioned by Arizona Theater Company, in partnership with BMG Music Group, Oregon Cabaret Theatre (We Three Queens), Camelot Theater (Spotlight on Trio), and the TYA BIPOC Superhero Project (Zapata: A Folklorico Musical). Jesse is also working with collaborator, Joslyn Housley McLaughlin, on new musical, Sarah!

As a music director, he has worked in theaters and organizations across the country including Je’Caryous Entertainment, South Coast Repertory, Seattle Rep, Portland Center Stage, Denver Center, Hartford Stage, Huntington Theatre Company, American Conservatory Theater, Theatreworks Silicon Valley, Arizona Theatre Company, Alley Theatre, Round House Theatre, Oregon Cabaret Theatre, O’Neill Music Theatre Conference, New World Stages, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and many more.
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Early in Jesse’s career, he served as music assistant on the first national tour of Hamilton and the world premiere of The Prince of Egypt (Theatreworks SV). In these and other positions, he has worked with Stephen Schwartz, Alex Lacamoire, Greg Anthony Rassen, Paul Scott Goodman, AnnMarie Milazzo, Michael Starobin, Dominick Ammendum, and countless other Broadway veterans.

Jesse serves on award and reading panels for Opera America and the National Alliance for Musical Theater. Jesse is a proud member of the Dramatist Guild of America and National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures.

06/05/2024

Meet our Board of Directors Vice President, Christopher Mirto.He went to Yale School of Drama, where he earned a master’s degree in directing, studying with Liz Diamond, Tina Landau, David Chambers, and Robert Woodruff.

Specializing in contemporary and new opera, he created Oberlin Conservatory’s first New Opera Commissioning Program. Currently, he is the Producing Director of Kentucky Opera in Louisville, Kentucky. He has been on the faculty at Oberlin Conservatory, Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, and Philadelphia’s University of the Arts.

Chris is interested in investigating the intersection of opera and theater and the marriage of precision and immediacy. His teaching and directing work examines opera’s role in the 21st century and how contemporary audiences connect to and contextualize it.

06/04/2024

Dr. Jerron Jorgensen currently serves as Director of Choral/Vocal Studies at Southern Oregon University and is the Music Director of the Rogue Valley Chorale. As a conductor and performer, his career has focused primarily on contemporary classical music.

He co-founded Outsider Opera because he believes the future of the opera art form lies with small companies focused on supporting living artists and creating community.

06/04/2024

Dr. Jen Heusel has been a champion for Outsider Opera since our first meeting one year ago! Jen recently changed careers from being a Professor of Communication/Rhetoric to a Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Leadership Development the University of Oregon School of Law. They enjoy working with others to address the challenges and experience the joys of inclusive leadership.

Jen believes artistic expression has the potential to share knowledge about diverse human experiences. This creative knowledge can help us see and appreciate different expressions of humanity.

We are so fortunate to have Jen as a member of our inaugural board!