BROOKLYN ARTS ORGANIZATION
THE AMERICAN OPERA PROJECT ANNOUNCES
NEW ADDITIONS TO STAFF AND BOARD
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(l. to r.: Emily Manzo, Christina B. Murphy, Takesha Meshé Kizart-Thomas, Alexa Dexa, Caitlin Mead) |
January 19, 2022
Brooklyn, NY - The American Opera Project (AOP), the Brooklyn-based organization dedicated to the creation and premiere of lyric theater and artistic training, announces two new members to their Board of Directors and three new members to their Staff, who will work together to support AOP's mission and vision through new insight and continued dedication to AOP's audiences and communities.
The new team members joining AOP are:
· Emily Manzo (She/Her), Board Member
· Christina B. Murphy (She/Her), Board Member
· Takesha Meshé Kizart-Thomas (She/Her), Director of Development
· Alexa Dexa (They/Them), Grant Writer
· Caitlin Mead (She/Her), Grant Writer
AOP Board President Sarah Moulton Faux is "thrilled to welcome Christina B. Murphy and Emily Manzo to AOP’s Board of Directors. Christina’s work with the Michael J. Fox Foundation combined with her longtime devotion to opera and the arts make her the ideal fit for AOP. Emily has been an integral part of the AOP family helming our previous development efforts, so we couldn’t be happier that her talents and abilities are remaining with the organization as a member of our Board. I look forward to working closely with them both to support AOP’s mission."
Joining AOP's staff are new Director of Development Takesha Meshé Kizart-Thomas, taking over the position previously held by Manzo, and Grant Writers, Alexa Dexa and Caitlin Mead, in newly created roles. The three staff positions will work together to form a development team tasked with creating and maintaining the fundraising strategy vital to the non-profit's artistic mission.
“AOP has a long tradition of providing opportunities to talented artists interested in expanding their skill sets and creativity to working behind the scenes in artistic administration,” says AOP General Director Matt Gray. “Takesha, Alexa, and Caitlin continue this tradition, each bringing with them an extraordinary amount of unique ideas and knowledge to AOP based on their experiences as artists and their desires to see valuable change in our art form. We are honored and excited that they have chosen AOP as that instrument of change.”
To learn more about each of these new AOP team members, as well as all of the rest of the AOP staff, visit: www.aopopera.org/team
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ABOUT EMILY MANZO - BOARD OF DIRECTORS |
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Emily Manzo is a musician, fundraiser and arts administrator who TimeOut New York considers to be "a uniquely protean artist who makes several scenes move." The New York Times has described her "attention to detail exceptional." She has performed throughout the U.S. and Europe in concerts and festivals of chamber, experimental and rock music. With her composer hat on, Manzo currently has a work in development entitled How to Rescue, starring Kamala Sankaram, and has received commissions from the Bayerische Rundfunk, Experiments in Opera and Daniel Neer's American Songbook. She has toured with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, the Julius Eastman Memorial Dinner, Christy & Emily and Arooj Aftab's band. Manzo has had the great honor to sing and perform on several of Naama Tsabar's instruments and installations. She recorded the Chopin Preludes for solo piano and the complete works of Anton Webern for soprano and piano with Jody Pou. As a composer, vocalist and pianist she can be heard on Tzadik, New Amsterdam Records, SHSK'H, The Social Registry, BigPrint, Klangbad, Merge and Jagjaguar. With funding from the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Foundation, she created the Hey, Chopin! educational project. From April 2020-July 2021 she served as AOP's Director of Development, increasing donor engagement more than 200%, assisting with the formation of an inaugural Artistic Advisory Board, migrating 30 years of data into a new CRM, and organizing monthly (and at times, more frequently) online events for donors, artists and alumni. She currently serves as the Bowdoin International Music Festival's Director of Development.
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ABOUT CHRISTINA B. MURPHY - BOARD OF DIRECTORS |
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Christina B. Murphy currently works as a Program Officer at the Michael J. Fox Foundation where she provides operational support and serves as a business lead between MJFF’s science team and its grantees. Murphy previously worked in healthcare communications and is a long-time member of The New York Junior League, holding various leadership roles, as well as an active Annual Giving volunteer for Special Gifts for her Class at Princeton University. She is also a member of the Alumnae Board at The Nightingale-Bamford School, co-chair of The Princess Grace Foundation-USA’s Guild (junior board) and a member of French Institute Alliance Française’s Young Patrons Board. Murphy received her M.S. in Nonprofit Management from Columbia University and a B.A. in French from Princeton University.
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ABOUT TAKESHA MESHÉ KIZART-THOMAS - DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
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The New York Times describes Takesha Meshé Kizart-Thomas' singing as “powerful, lustrous, silky, caramel-hued, wielding impressive ease and elegant control,” and critics worldwide have praised her visually and vocally compelling performances. 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, she has sung leading roles with the Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Sydney Opera House; shared the stage with the likes of Yo-Yo Ma and Wynton Marsalis; collaborated with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway in Chicago and HBO; and developed new works (as Producer and Librettist) SHONDJ, Opera Reconstructed, The Phenomenal Woman, Maternità, and Black Caesar. The current season will include concert performances in Pittsburgh, PA of “The Phenomenal Woman” with Resonance Works (including the premiere of a work commissioned by the artist), “Mahogany Chamber Performances: A Night of Song” with Crosstown Theater in Memphis, TN, and a recital tour with Anima Mundi Productions (in collaboration with Southern Oregon University, Seattle Opera, the Northwest African American Museum, the Portland State University School of Music & Theater, and Opera in the Park Portland) in performances of “Maternitá,” a program that explores motherhood through the standard operatic heroine and a contemporary portrayal with the commissioning of world premieres by Black, First Nation Indigenous, and Latina women composers in which she also serves as Co-Producer and Librettist.
Kizart-Thomas 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. Kizart-Thomas 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.
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ABOUT ALEXA DEXA - GRANT WRITER |
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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.
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ABOUT CAITLIN MEAD - GRANT WRITER |
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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.
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ABOUT THE AMERICAN OPERA PROJECT |
Founded in 1988, The American Opera Project (AOP) has been at the forefront of contemporary opera for over 30 years. Its works have received critical acclaim at opera companies and venues around the world, establishing a new musical canon that recognizes the operatic story in every life. www.aopopera.org
Press for AOP:
"known for bringing cutting-edge vocal productions to the masses" — New York Magazine
"a perfect first exposure to opera." — Time Out NY
"Bravo to AOP for supporting such controversial and ultimately important work." — Opera Today
"The future of American opera is in good hands." — Opera News
Media Contact: Meagan Brus, Director of Marketing and Communications
email: mbrus@aopopera.org
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