Queer Opera 2021
our singers
the opera scenes
the songs
production team

December 18 and 19 at 7pm - Opera Scenes

December 19 at 2pm - Songs

Lincoln Hall Studio Theater @ PSU

Jessie Bodell (he/they)

Jessie graduated from Portland State University in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Musicology/Ethnomusicology and went on to earn a Master of Arts & Culture degree in Musicology from the University of Amsterdam in 2018. His scholarship has focused on music and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, with an emphasis on the performance of gender in various theatrical genres. Before discovering a passion for music history and feminist musicology, Jessie studied classical flute performance at the University of Vermont (where he is originally from), and PSU. When he isn’t swimming in a river, singing, or playing flute, he can be found spending time with his husband and their two small dogs.

Adrian Burke (he/him)

Ariana Davis (she/her)

Grace Dawald (she/they)

Grace Dawald holds a Bachelor's degree in Vocal Performance from Oregon State University. During her years at OSU, Dawald has appeared as Mutter in Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel with Luke Housner’s Vivace Vancouver Opera Program, a soloist in To Be Certain of the Dawn by Stephen Paulus in the National Cathedral in Washington DC, and most recently, she completed her Senior Recital requirement in September 2020 digitally with a limited live audience. Grace is excited to be singing and working with Queer Opera for a second time, and is looking forward to participating in music post-lockdown.

Carolyn Quick (she/her)

Carolyn Quick (she/her) is a composer, vocalist, and poet based in Portland, Oregon. Described as a “versatile young soprano” with a “pure timbre” and “haunting” voice (Opera News; Eugene Opera), with a particular love of both Early and Contemporary music, she has performed in ensembles such as Eugene Opera, Portland Symphonic Choir, and the Oregon Bach Festival Vocal Fellows Program; Carolyn was also a guest soloist for the Vivaldi Gloria with the South Puget Sound Community College Choirs and the Student Orchestra of Greater Olympia's production of Handel's Messiah.

After co-founding new music collective Persisting Sound, she has written and performed for them, collaborating with Siren Nation during the Siren Nation Festival and putting-on virtual concert Vulnerability with local artists Lisa Neher and Drew Swatosh.

Most recently, Carolyn participated in the NATS: NW Chapter Musical Theater Competition, placing 2nd, advancing to the regional competition; and is slated to perform with Resonance Ensemble and the Oregon Symphony in their world premiere of An African American Requiem by Damien Geter. Carolyn is currently a member of In Medio and Tabor Wind Ensemble and hopes to return to rehearsals when it is safe to do so. For more information, visit her website, www.carolynquick.com.

Madeline Ross (she/her)

Madeline Ross is a soprano based in Portland, OR. She was most recently seen as Amore in Orfeo in Underland (Gluck’s Orfeo) with Renegade Opera and as a Townswoman in Portland Opera’s production of Tosca. Other recent engagements include a solo debut at Carnegie Hall with Deke Sharon and Total Vocal where she was hailed for “scatting to beat the band” (New York Concert Review). She played the role of the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with Lark Opera and the Aquilon Music Festival, Lisa in Bellini’s La Sonnambula in Boston with Promenade Opera Project and performed in September 2019 with Queer Opera in their gender-bending scenes program. Ms. Ross has also performed the roles of the Snake in Opera Theater Oregon’s production of The Little Prince (2018), La Fee in Massenet’s Cendrillon with the Promenade Opera Project (2018), Miss Silverpeal in Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor with the Longy School of Music (2018), Alice in Rossini's Le Comte Ory with Harvard University’s Lowell House Opera in Cambridge, MA (2018) and Olympia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann with the Longy School of Music (2017). Her first immersive opera role was Servilia in Justice or Mercy an immersive modern adaptation of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito with the Promenade Opera Project (2017), of which she is a founding member. Ms. Ross recently earned a masters of music in opera from the Longy School of Music at Bard College in Cambridge, MA, where she studied with Karyl Ryczek and Robert Honeysucker. At Longy she performed Olympia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann as well as Miss Silverpeal in Der Schauspieldirektor by Mozart and partial roles of Laurie in Copland's The Tenderland, Giulietta in Bellini's I Capuletti e i Montecchi and Najade in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos. Mrs. Ross was a Young Artist at the Miami Music Festival where she was seen as Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro (2017), working with Caren Levine, Corinne Hayes, and Manny Perez.

She is the founder and Executive Director of Renegade Opera, an unconventional opera company dedicated to creating immersive experiences that give voice to traditionally underrepresented communities and break the framework of traditional opera. Check out their website at www.renegadeopera.org for more information!

Ms. Ross won first prize in the 2020 NATS Cascades Chapter Vocal Competition, the 2018 Longy School of Music Honors Competition, and has competed as a finalist in the Portland SummerFest's Northwest Young Voices competition, where she sang for Angela Meade. She has received multiple honors and awards from the National Association of Teachers of Singers (NATS) Vocal Competition and was the winner of the Willamette University Chamber Orchestra's Concerto-Aria Competition. She was awarded the Brenna Hazzard Vocal Scholarship through Mu Phi Epsilon, the international music fraternity, of which she is an alumna. Ms. Ross has participated in master classes with Audrey Luna, Mark Morash, Julia Bullock, Ruth Ann Swenson, Wilene Gunn, Julianne Baird, and The Rose Ensemble. She is an experienced soloist in concert repertoire, opera, choral music, musical theater, and jazz. Ms. Ross is the recipient of two awards from DownBeat Magazine for Best Undergraduate Large Vocal Jazz Ensemble as a member and soloist of the Willamette Singers.

Maddy has taught voice, piano and theater at Northwest Children's Theater and School, Resound NW, and First Presbyterian Church in Portland. She currently maintains a private teaching studio in Portland, OR, and is available for lessons and consultations by appointment. She currently studies voice with the inimitable Nancy Olson-Chatalas.

Oliver Schulenburg (he/him)

Oliver Schulenburg (he/him) is currently a sophomore at Portland State University, studying vocal performance. Formerly a mezzo soprano, Oliver has been on testosterone for a year and is now a baritone. As of now, he has sung every voice part in an SATB choir. He is from Portland, and has spent most of his life here. He briefly studied at St. Olaf College in Minnesota in 2018 before he got too cold and had to come home. Oliver lives in SE with 5 cats, 4 snakes, a gecko, a bearded dragon, and a fish. In his free time, you can find Oliver trying to play Phoebe Bridgers on the piano or playing fetch with his cat named Shrimp.

Camille Sherman (she/her)

Mezzo-soprano Camille Sherman hails from the California North Bay Area. This summer, Ms. Sherman joins Des Moines Metro Opera’s Apprentice Artist Program, performing in Platée, Queen of Spades, and Sweeney Todd. In early 2022 Camille will return to Pensacola Opera to make her role debut as Rosina in The Barber of Seville.

In 2019-2020, Ms. Sherman completed her second season in the Portland Opera Resident Artist Program, where she was seen on their main stage as Kate Pinkerton as well as covering Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Sally in A Hand of Bridge, Announcer in Gallantry, and Asteria in the American professional premiere of Vivaldi's Bajazet. Previous credits with Portland Opera include Flora Bervoix in La Traviata and Ramiro in La Finta Giardiniera, as well as covering roles Hannah After in As One and Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Ms. Sherman also returned to Pensacola Opera in 2019 to make her role debut as Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette.

During the 2017-18 season, Ms. Sherman joined Pensacola Opera as an Artist in Residence, performing the role of María in María de Buenos Aires and the Housekeeper in Man of La Mancha, in addition to covering roles Aldonza in Man of La Mancha and Suzuki in Madama Butterfly. Ms. Sherman’s recent seasons include role debuts as the Komponist in Ariadne auf Naxos (Berlin Opera Academy, 2017) and Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Janiec Opera Company, 2016). In addition to her stage career, Ms. Sherman has also appeared in concert with Nashville Opera and the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra, and debuted with Naples Philharmonic as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah.

Over the last few years, Ms. Sherman has garnered acclaim in several competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions where she was named a National Semi-Finalist in 2019 after having won the Northwest Region, and where she won an Encouragement Award in the competition’s Middle/East Tennessee District the previous year. She was a finalist in the Tier 1 of the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition (2019) and the Brava! Opera Theater Competition (2016). She is a two-time winner of the Kalvelage Memorial Award in the Henry and Maria Holt Competition (2016-17) and secured the Jorge Estebanez Scholarship from The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (2016).

During her vocal training, Ms. Sherman was in residence at the Janiec Opera Company and at OperaWorks. Ms. Sherman holds degrees in vocal performance from some of the nation’s most prestigious institutions, including a master’s degree from The San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Catherine Cook, and a bachelor’s degree from The Boston Conservatory. In addition to her work as a singer, Ms. Sherman is an experienced pianist, flautist, and musical arranger.

Jena Slater (she/her)

Erik Standifird (he/him)

Maeve Stier (they/them)

Maeve Stier (they/them) is a soprano from Portland, OR and a third-year returning member to Queer Opera. This fall, they performed the role of Shepherd Boy in Portland Opera’s production of Tosca. Other performance experience includes roles and workshops with PSU Opera, Third Rail Repertory Theater, and Aquilon Music Festival, chorus work with the Oregon Symphony, Portland Opera, and internationally acclaimed artists such as Pink Martini, Sarah Brightman, and Josh Groban, and solo performance around the PNW with their accordion.