Founded in 2008 in New York City, MORNINGSIDE OPERA is an artists’ collective incorporating singers, musicians, directors, and designers. We are dedicated to challenging the boundaries of the genre through accessible performances of operas old, new, and somewhere in between – we do original mash-ups of operatic music into new stories, theatrical stagings of non-dramatic works, and transformative adaptations of perennial favorites. Unique among small opera companies in the region, Morningside Opera has a strong scholarly focus, curating educational programs and workshops that feature leading scholars and practitioners. Through our performances and educational programming alike, our mission is to spark fresh and provocative dialogues about the future of opera, between new and traditional audiences.

Morningside Opera is a proud participant in the New York Opera Alliance.

Annie Holt is honored to serve as the executive artistic director of Morningside Opera. Credits with Morningside include Here Be Sirens (costume design, 2014), Dido and Aeneas (direction, 2013), A Weimar Flute (dramaturgy, 2012), Stabat Mater Fabulosa (costume design, 2012), The Judgment of Paris (costume design, 2011), the original Handel pastiche Atra, ossia l’amore ricordato (costume design, 2011), and Britten’s The Beggar’s Opera (direction, 2010). She is the grateful recipient of a Beinecke Scholarship, a Mellon Fellowship in archival research, and the Elizabeth Cady Staunton Prize for writing in the field of gender studies. In 2014, Annie received her PhD in Theatre from Columbia University, where she is currently a Lecturer in English and Comparative Literature.

Brittany Palmer is thrilled to join Morningside Opera in the quest to produce and promote classical opera theatre in a contemporary and relevant form suited for modern day audiences. Trained as soprano at Florida State University and the Eastman School of Music, her performing career has included solo performances and roles with Opera North, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Western New York Chamber Orchestra, Osh Opera, Opera Gaya, Morningside Opera, University of North Florida, New York Sinfonia, and Encompass New Opera Theatre among others. Some of her favorite performances include Susanna
(Le Nozze di Figaro), La Comtesse Adèle (Le Comte Ory), Lucy Lockit (The Beggar's Opera), Ariane (Ariane – Martinu), Drusilla (L'Incoronazione di Poppea), Blondie (Die Entführung aus dem Seraglio), as well as the soprano solos for Bach's St. Matthew Passion, Carmina Burana, Fauré's Requiem, and Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass. Upcoming engagements include Vera in A Month in the Country with Delaware Valley Opera and Ruth Putnam in The Crucible with Empire Opera. For more information, please visit Brittany's website at www.brittanyleighpalmer.com.

While at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as an undergraduate, Michael Shaw sang leading baritone roles in over ten operas and presented eight Lieder and song recitals. He received an MA in Musicology from the University of Notre Dame du Lac in 2006, where he also had the opportunity to play The Director in Poulenc's Les mamelles de Terisias. Michael met the founding members of Morningside Opera while working toward his doctorate in Historical Musicology. His dissertation, on Gnosticism and Franz Schubert, was completed in 2013. Michael has performed in six of Morningside Opera's productions, and is also the company's tech friend. In 2015 he transcribed Harry Lawrence Freeman's Voodoo for Morningside Opera's production in June, and co-wrote and performed in Lebensverlust with company member Amber Youell.

Soprano Brett Umlauf is a proud member of the following artist collectives: Morningside Opera, SIREN Baroque, Skid Rococo, and Company XIV. She trained at Mannes College of Music and has an honors degree in Classics from Dartmouth College. brettumlauf.com

Amber Youell is a mezzo-soprano and 18th-century scholar who loves wigs and coloratura. In October 2012, she completed her PhD in historical musicology from Columbia University, with a dissertation on opera, fashion, money, and politics at the court of Empress Maria Theresia. For Morningside's 2009 production of Alcide al bivio, Amber constructed a performance score from manuscript and acted as dramaturg. She has taught underground music courses at Columbia University and Manhattan College, and has been published in Early Modern Women and Eighteenth-Century Music. Amber received a Whiting Fellowship for her research in 2010-2011, and has received awards from the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music and Society for Eighteenth-Century Music. She helped design innovative classical music tours in Europe for premiere tour operator Tauck World Discovery. Amber lives in Basel, Switzerland, with her husband Michael Shaw and their daughter Nike.