Paradox Opera

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We hold the core belief that opera is a powerful, and emotionally thrilling art form. Paradox Opera is dedicated to the fair and humane treatment of artists.
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The purpose of Paradox Opera is to foster a new generation of both opera artists and audiences. Productions will include commissioned new works that focus on current issues, new translations of traditional operas with a topical twist, and operas reimagined for today’s audiences. We believe that the highest quality performances are created when the artist is an equal part of the creative process.

10/19/2026

ITS HERE!! Join us Oct 22-25 for the 2nd PXO Raid Train! We’re raising money for to help produce our brand new opera The Genders of Gybberidge! This show highlights many q***r stories that have never been seen on the operatic stage and we can’t wait to share it with the world! (and give a big middle finger to the author who shall not be named) The event ends with a concert Oct 25 at 8pm EST so be sure to stay tuned for the whole event!!

The event will begin Thursday, Oct 22 at 6:30PM EST on Alissa Roca’s channel and continue 24/7 until we return to Diva’s channel with CRITTERS, CREATURES, & CRYPTIDS Sunday, Oct 25 at 8pm EST

The full schedule and list of creators can be found here: https://horaro.net/pxo-raidtrain2026/schedule

We’re so excited to have so many incredible creators working with us again this year!! Please tune in and STAY tuned in! All weekend long we’ll have exciting news dropping and there will be so many incentives and giveaways. So come help us make some magic happen!!

10/16/2026

TODAY IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO GET PRE-SALE TICKETS FOR CRITTERS, CREATURES, & CRYPTIDS!!!

If you know you’re coming, get your ticket TODAY!! Tomorrow they will be $10 more. If you want to give us more money, we won’t say no, but WE WANT YOU AT THIS SHOW. It means more to us to know you’ll be there than to make more money. This concert is an absolute delight and we’re excited to share it with you tomorrow. You do not want to miss Gwen Hyland doing her best Possum impression do you???

📅 Saturday, October 17 | 7 PM
📍 Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh
3313 Wade Ave, Raleigh, NC
🎟️ $25 presale, $35 at the door ($40 ticket + stickers!!)
https://paradoxopera.app.neoncrm.com/nx/portal/neonevents/events?path=%2Fportal%2Fevents%2F54765

Art by Jemma Kelly

10/15/2026

🐧 CREATURE FEATURE 05: PENGUIN GEOMETRY

Penguins? Excellent.

Geometry? Sure, why not.

PENGUIN GEOMETRY?!

John Duke’s Penguin Geometry is joining our musical menagerie, and we have to admire a program that makes room for a title like this.

Classical vocal music can be dramatic. It can be heartbreaking. It can be romantic.
And sometimes, it can be about a penguin.

We love art song because it gives composers and poets room to explore the unexpected, and because you absolutely do not need to recognize every composer or understand every musical term to enjoy a great performance.

So come embrace the mystery. Come contemplate the penguin. Come find out what this piece is doing on our concert program.

Come hear the madness for yourself at Critters, Creatures, & Cryptids!

📅 Saturday, October 17 | 7 PM
📍 Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh
3313 Wade Ave, Raleigh, NC
🎟️ $25 presale, $35 at the door ($40 ticket + stickers!!)
https://paradoxopera.app.neoncrm.com/nx/portal/neonevents/events?path=%2Fportal%2Fevents%2F54765

Art by Jemma Kelly

10/13/2026

🐦 CREATURE FEATURE 04: THE CHATTERBOX BIRD

Have you ever encountered a bird who simply WOULD NOT STOP CHIRPING?

Darius Milhaud has.

Tais-toi, babillarde—roughly, “Be quiet, chatterbox!”—comes from Milhaud’s Chansons de Ronsard, settings of poetry by French Renaissance poet Pierre de Ronsard.

Milhaud sets up a wonderfully playful musical tug-of-war between the voice and this persistent little bird, turning a very simple complaint into a miniature dramatic scene.

You don’t need to speak French to get the gist.

Sometimes the universal language is:

🐦 chirp chirp chirp

🎤 TAIS-TOI! (S**U)

Come hear the drama for yourself at Critters, Creatures, & Cryptids!

📅 Saturday, October 17 | 7 PM
📍 Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh
3313 Wade Ave, Raleigh, NC
🎟️ $25 presale, $35 at the door ($40 ticket + stickers!!)
https://paradoxopera.app.neoncrm.com/nx/portal/neonevents/events?path=%2Fportal%2Fevents%2F54765

Art by Jemma Kelly

10/09/2026

Tag yourself, which possum are YOU? 🤩

Then come hear the world premiere of “Everything What’s Wrong of Possums”, a humorously unhinged song cycle with text by Daniel Lavery and music by Patricia Wallinga and many other wonderful pieces at Critters, Creatures, & Cryptids!

$25 early-bird tickets can be purchased on our website at paradoxopera.org/creatures, with the option to add a custom vinyl sticker set for $15! Admission will be $35 at the door, so reserve your tickets now to get the best deal!

Saturday, October 17 | 7 PM
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh
3313 Wade Ave, Raleigh, NC
$25 presale, $35 at the door ($40 ticket + stickers!!)
https://paradoxopera.app.neoncrm.com/nx/portal/neonevents/events?path=%2Fportal%2Fevents%2F54765

Art by Jemma Kelly

10/07/2026

Come join Paradox Opera for a delightful evening of music about your favorite cute, questionable, and/or fictional critters! Whether you’re an art-song aficionado or an adorable animal appreciator, listeners of all ages will enjoy this program of fauna-focused songs (primarily in English!) performed by soprano Alissa Roca, baritone Gwen Hyland, and pianist Daniel Seyfried. The program includes whimsical settings of Lewis Carroll poems, a bestiary song cycle by Jeffery Beam and Steven Sérpa, and selected songs by Ned Rorem, John Duke, Darius Milhaud, and more! The evening will also include the world premiere of “Everything What’s Wrong of Possums”, a humorously unhinged song cycle with text by Daniel Lavery and music by Patricia Wallinga.

$25 early-bird tickets can be purchased on our website at paradoxopera.org/creatures, with the option to add a custom vinyl sticker set for $15! Admission will be $35 at the door, so reserve your tickets now to get the best deal!

Saturday, October 17 | 7 PM
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh
3313 Wade Ave, Raleigh, NC
$25 presale, $35 at the door ($40 ticket + stickers!!)
https://paradoxopera.app.neoncrm.com/nx/portal/neonevents/events?path=%2Fportal%2Fevents%2F54765

Art by Jemma Kelly

10/05/2026

🐟 CREATURE FEATURE 03: THE TROUT

You may have heard this one before.
Die Forelle (“The Trout”) by Franz Schubert is one of the best-known works on our CREATURES program (if you have a Samsung washer, it sings this to you)—and it’s a pretty great example of how much storytelling you can fit into one voice and one piano.

Here’s the setup:
A little trout is happily swimming through a clear stream. 🐟
A fisherman arrives. 🎣
The narrator watches.
Things get… less fun for the trout.

What makes the song so much fun to listen to is the way Schubert uses the piano to help create the world of the story. Listen for that constant bubbling, flowing motion underneath the voice—the water, the movement of the fish, and eventually the tension of the scene.
You don’t need to know anything about German art song to enjoy it.
Just listen to the fish.
(Okay, you can’t literally listen to the fish. You know what we mean.)

📅 Saturday, October 17 | 7 PM
📍 Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh
3313 Wade Ave, Raleigh, NC
🎟️ $25 presale, $35 at the door ($40 ticket + stickers!!)
https://paradoxopera.app.neoncrm.com/nx/portal/neonevents/events?path=%2Fportal%2Fevents%2F54765

Art by Jemma Kelly

10/02/2026

🐇 CREATURE FEATURE 02: THE CARROLL CREATURES 🦞

What do lobsters, bats, crocodiles, and a very questionable monster have in common?
They all made it into our concert program, obviously.

Lewis Carroll’s writing has inspired generations of artists to embrace the strange, the silly, and the gloriously nonsensical. And in this concert, three composers take on some of his most delightfully peculiar poems.

🦞 The Lobster Quadrille — Irving Gifford Fine
🦇 Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat — Kelly Krebs
🐉 Jabberwocky — John Duke
🐊 The Little Crocodile — John Duke

From familiar childhood imagery to a poem full of invented words, these songs are proof that classical music doesn’t always have to be serious to be seriously fun.
Swipe through to meet the inhabitants of our second Creature Feature!

📅 Saturday, October 3 | 2 PM
📍 Durham County Public Library
300 N Roxboro St, Durham NC
🎟️ FREE! Pre-registration suggested!
Event details: https://durhamcountylibrary.libcal.com/event/17151011

And if you can’t make it this Saturday, never fear! We’ll be bringing the full concert to Raleigh on October 17, streaming it FREE on Twitch October 25, and making two appearances at the NC Museum of Art on November 14!

And don’t forget you can grab a sweet set of stickers (some are featured in THIS POST!) made by Jemma Kelly at the shows!

10/01/2026

If you think classical music is boring, you’ve never been to a Paradox Opera x Mallarmé Music show!

Join us this weekend and all month long at Critters, Creatures, & Cryptids for a delightful tour of art songs about your favorite little guys. 🦄

📅 Saturday, October 3 | 2 PM
📍 Durham County Public Library
300 N Roxboro St, Durham NC
🎟️ FREE! Pre-registration suggested!
Event details: https://durhamcountylibrary.libcal.com/event/17151011

And if you can’t make it this Saturday, never fear! We’ll be bringing the full concert to Raleigh on October 17, streaming it FREE on Twitch October 25, and making two appearances at the NC Museum of Art on November 14!

And don’t forget you can grab a sweet set of stickers made by Jemma Kelly at the shows!

Clip of The Manticore from Steven Sérpa’s Creatures (you’ll hear the whole piece on the concert!) performed by Alissa Roca and Anja Arko in 2025

09/30/2026

🦄 CREATURE FEATURE 01 🦇

What if a medieval encyclopedia, a collection of fantastical beasts, and a contemporary art song cycle all got together and decided to make YOUR day significantly weirder?

Meet The Creatures: A Bestiary Retold by composer Steven Sérpa (Steven Sérpa ), with poetry by Jeffery Beam!

Inspired by the medieval tradition of bestiaries (essentially, creature encyclopedias featuring a delightful mix of real animals, mythical beasts, folklore, and questionable scientific observations), this cycle brings a whole menagerie to life through music.

We’re talking camels. Manticores. Beavers. Unicorns. Salamanders. Whales. And more!
Some are playful. Some are mysterious. Some are potentially dangerous. All of them have something to say.

And no, you do NOT need a degree in music history to enjoy this. If you like a good story, a little mystery, and the occasional musical creature feature, you’re already qualified.
Swipe through to meet some of the inhabitants of this particular bestiary, and then come hear them for yourself!

📅 Saturday, October 3 | 2 PM
📍 Durham County Public Library
300 N Roxboro St, Durham
🎟️ FREE! Pre-registration suggested!
Event details: https://durhamcountylibrary.libcal.com/event/17151011

And if you can’t make it this Saturday, never fear! We’ll be bringing the full concert to Raleigh on October 17, streaming it FREE on Twitch October 25, and making two appearances at the NC Museum of Art on November 14!

And don’t forget you can grab a sweet set of stickers (some are featured in THIS POST!) made by Jemma Kelly at the shows!

Address

Morrisville, NC

Telephone

+19193869224

Website

http://paradoxopera.org/

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