CAST

Jamilyn Manning // Soprano
Angela Yam // Soprano 
Sishel Claverie // Mezzo-soprano
Bernard Holcomb // Tenor
John Taylor Ward // Bass

BAND

Dan Schlosberg // Piano
Jacob Ashworth // Violin
Kristina Teuschler // Clarinets
Neil Beckmann // Guitars

TEAM  

Created by Ethan Heard & Jacob Ashworth
Newly arranged by Dan Schlosberg
Script and New English Lyrics by Ethan Heard, Peregrine Heard, and Jacob Ashworth

Director // Ethan Heard
Co-Music Directors // Jacob Ashworth & Dan Schlosberg
Costume Designer // David Quinn
Mx. Holcomb’s Headdress by // Mio Guberinic
Makeup Designer // Maiko Ando
Lighting Designer // Oliver Wason
Props Supervisor // Madisen Frazier
Projection Designer // Alex Cordero
Choreographer & Asst Director // Dylan Cole
Production Stage Manager // Erin Gray
Producer // Talia Hankin
Assistant Makeup // Erin Ormsby
Assistant Costume Design & Wardrobe // Azael Acosta
Wardrobe & Laundry Assistant // Jazmine Curie

HIGHLIGHT reel: SLAYLEM, the witch trials

Watch a few dazzling arias and showstopping moments from our first adventure at Judson Church last year, the immensely popular sold-out bonanza, SLAYLEM: The Witch Trials. We can’t wait to return to such an iconic venue for this year’s celebratory 10th show!

ANGELA YAM

Soprano

Angela Yam is a performer known for her impeccable musicianship and fierce stage presence. She debuted with Heartbeat Opera as Rebecca in SLAYLEM!, and is thrilled to return with Orgy & Bess.

Past roles include Celeste 1/Sunday in the Park with George (Glimmerglass Festival), Calisto/La Calisto (Opera Memphis), Orsia/The Pigeon Keeper (Opera Parallèle), Liesgen/The Coffee Cantata (Boston Baroque), and Johanna/Sweeney Todd (Chautauqua Opera, Opera Saratoga). She was the Boston Globe’s 2024 Best Breakout Performance in a Supporting Role, the New York City District Winner of the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, and the December 2024 cover of Opera Magazine.

Jamilyn Manning

Soprano

American soprano, Jamilyn Manning, praised by the New Yorker as "agile and fiery”, “vibrant and masterful” by Opera News, and “superb” by The New Times, charms audiences on the operatic, theatre, and concert stage. Performing with Heartbeat Opera since its inception, she has been seen as the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor, in COVID’s Lady M online soirées, The Fairy Queen, Queens of the Night, Dragus Maximus, SLAYLEM! and thrilled to join Orgy & Bess! She has enjoyed singing with The Met Guild, Philadelphia Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, The New York Festival of Song, Arizona Opera, Gotham Chamber Opera, Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre, Teatro Nacional de Santa Ana, American Festival Chorus, Hartford Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, A Little Night Music, A Lover’s Tale (Berkshire Theatre Group), Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Broadway), Counterfeit Opera (Little Island), The Architecture of Becoming (The Women’s Project), The Music Man (Yale Rep), Awful Event! (Baryshnikov Arts Center), My Fair Lady and La voix humaine (Yale School of Drama), among others. She is a proud alumni of the Yale School of Music, Arizona State University, Utah State University and is on the voice faculty at NYU Steinhardt. @jamilynsings

Sishel Claverie

Mezzo-soprano

Mexican Mezzo-soprano, Sishel Claverie, is thrilled to rejoin her friends at Heartbeat. She enjoys a versatile career in opera, new works and multidisciplinary collaborations. This season, Sishel made her debut with St. Pete Opera in the title role of Bizet’s Carmen, a role she’s performed on numerous occasions, most notably with El Paso Opera and Heartbeat Opera, where she was praised by the New York Times as a “riveting and smoldering Carmen.”

Recent engagements like Bernstein’s MASS with the National Symphony Orchestra, the mariachi-opera El Milagro del Recuerdo with San Diego Opera, and her appearance as Lola in the short film Chinese Laundry. Last Spring, Sishel made her Santa Fe Opera debut as stage director of the Young Voices Scenes Showcase, which she returned to this season.

Sishel has performed in numerous world premieres, like Ted Rosenthal’s jazz-opera Dear Erich with the New York City Opera and the video opera series Everything for Dawn by Experiments in Opera, among others. She currently resides in New York City with her husband Artie and two adorable kitties.

Bernard Holcomb

Tenor

Bernard Holcomb has “already made a name for himself in the world of opera” with his “delicate and flexible” voice (OperaWire) and the “appealing sweetness and clarity [of] his tone” (The New York Times). Katy Walsh of Chicago Theater Beat said it best: “Although everyone [at Lyric Opera of Chicago] can sing, Holcomb reminds us why we come to the Lyric.” Last season, Mr. Holcomb returned to the Metropolitan Opera to sing the Fourth Jew in Salome and to Eugene Opera to sing the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto. He joined Heartbeat Opera for Slaylem: The Witch Trials and Opera Parallele in the title role of The Pigeon Keeper. He also made three appearances at Carnegie Hall in Mozart’s Coronation Mass with MidAmerica Productions, Robert Ray’s Gospel Mass with Manhattan Concert Productions, and Strauss’ Guntram with the American Symphony Orchestra. In the summer, he returned to Central City Opera as the Minstrel in Once Upon a Mattress, and he joined the Savannah Voice Festival to reprise his Duke in Rigoletto. Next season, Mr. Holcomb joins the Monterey Symphony for their 80th anniversary season-opening concert, Opera Southwest for Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, and Richmond Symphony for Damien Geter’s African American Requiem. He also joins the Lyric Opera of Kansas City as Robbins and Crab Man in Porgy and Bess and as Carlson and Lennie (cover) in Of Mice and Men.

John Taylor Ward

Bass

John Taylor Ward performs with “stylish abandon” (The New Yorker), “intense clarity and color” (New York Times), “finely calibrated precision and heartrending expressivity” (Washington Post). A native of Boone, North Carolina, Taylor grew up in a musical family – mostly bluegrass and Broadway. Before pursuing opera and early music studies at the Eastman and Yale Schools of Music, he spent his early years living a double life as both a sought-after musical theater actor and an Anglican boy treble. Taylor’s “lithe, louche, and admirably game” approach to the repertoire (Opera News) has yielded recent acclaimed debuts at Spoleto USA in the premier of Unholy Wars; Mexico’s Compañía Nacional de Teatro, starring in Iannis Xenakis’ Oresteia; and Vienna’s Musikverein as Jesus in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. Notable DVD releases include the role of Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress with Barbara Hannigan, Proteo in Orfeo Chaman with Christina Pluhar and L’Arpeggiata, and an upcoming documentary series on the life and works of Claudio Monteverdi with the Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Taylor is the founding artistic director of the Lakes Area Music Festival of Minnesota, a laureate of the Jardin des voix, and a member of the two-time Grammy winning ensemble, Roomful of Teeth.

ETHAN HEARD

Director & Co-Creator (Co-Founder of Heartbeat Opera)

Ethan Heard co-founded Heartbeat Opera with Louisa Proske in 2014 and led the company for 8 seasons growing it into “an enterprise that, while small and still young, has already contributed more to opera’s vitality than most major American companies" (NYTimes). Heartbeat credits include: Fidelio (NYTimes Critic’s Pick), Butterfly, La Susanna, Dido & Aeneas, Kafka-Fragments, and the first 7 annual drag extravaganzas. His operatic work is “incisive and inspired” (Opera News) and has been presented at BAM, The Met Museum, Opera Philadelphia, Glimmerglass Festival, and The Kennedy Center. He is currently Associate Artistic Director of Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA, where his credits include Soft Power, Pacific Overtures, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. He taught at Yale for 6 years, where he earned his BA and MFA and began another beloved tradition: Yale School of Drag. ethanheard.com @ethanjheard

JACOB ASHWORTH

Co-Creator and Co-Music Director (Artistic Director, Heartbeat Opera)

See full bio on our staff page here.

Dan Schlosberg

Music Arranger & Co-Music Director (Music Director, Heartbeat Opera)

See full bio on our staff page here.

Dylan Cole

Choreographer & Assistant Director

Dylan Cole is a fiery and passionate director/choreographer originally from the beautiful swamps of south Louisiana and now based in Brooklyn. He recently earned his MFA in Musical Theatre Collaboration from Temple University’s George Abbott Institute. This past summer, he served as a Resident Artist at The Glimmerglass Festival, assisting on Sunday in the Park with George and Odyssey. Dylan is thrilled to be working with Ethan & Heartbeat and even more elated to help make the world a gayer and more musical place. Endless gratitude to his family, friends, and teachers, without whom he would cease to exist. Y’all enjoy the show!

DAVID QUINN

Costume Designer

David Quinn is a fashion and costume designer working in a variety of mediums from theatre, dance, and film to burlesque and red carpets. Quinn's theatre work has appeared in numerous traditional and non-traditional venues across America and internationally. In 2017 his work on Jack was described as “jaw dropping” (Travelance) and “glorious“ (Time Out NY). In 2022 his costumes for Dick Rivington were hailed as “brilliantly inventive“ by the NY Times. Quinn has designed dance costumes in collaboration with NYC based choreographers and soloists including The Martha Graham Company, Merce Cunningham, and Stanley Love. Dance View Times said, ”Quinn is cutting and draping and colouring the most beautiful dance costumes to be found in New York.” 

Quinn’s wide ranging group of collaborators has recently included artists such as the iconic drag queen The Lady Bunny. Music legend Debbie Harry - creating her mirrored shroud for Coachella. Many red carpet and press event looks for Bridget Everett (HBO - Somebody Somewhere). Also, several incredible pieces for performance artist Darrel Thorne. Quinn's work has appeared in a variety of publications and has been immortalized in several books and films. Quinn designed the burlesque immersive show Hypnotique at the McKittrick Hotel, NYC. Follow on Instagram @quinndustry

MAIKO ANDO

Make-up Designer

Maiko Ando is a New York based makeup artist that grew up in Japan. She is known for a keen aesthetic eye and her ability to bring out character through makeup. She displays this in aesthetics and creativity from "no makeup" makeup and natural beauty looks to creative character and effects makeup. Her work has showcased in CBS, Paramount + and Smithsonian Channel.

Maiko is currently working on three TV series on Paramount+. Her artistic expression has been featured in various Heartbeat Opera productions, advertising and commercial campaigns, music videos, actors’ reels, documentaries, corporate videos and independent films. Her vision is continuously propelled forward as she out seeks challenges that require leaps of imagination. www.maikomakeup.com

PEREGRINE TENG HEARD

Co-Writer

Peregrine Teng Heard is an actor, playwright, and Artistic Director of The Associates Theater Ensemble. She has collaborated with Heartbeat on dramaturgy, supertitle translations, and original scripts for six drag extravaganzas. Her plays include Redemption Story (O’Neill Semifinalist), On The Prowl with Ada Tsiao (O’Neill Semifinalist, 59E59 SpaceLab), and four original plays devised and performed with The Associates. Other performance credits include POTUS (Arena Stage), Tom Jones (Actors Theatre of Louisville), soot & spit (New Ohio), and Sehnsucht (JACK). Peregrine earned a B.A. in East Asian Studies at Yale. www.peregrineheard.com

OLIVER WASON

Lighting Designer

Oliver Wason is happy to be working with Heartbeat, having designed many production including Lady M, Tosca, Der Freischutz, Don Giovanni, Butterfly, Carmen, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Kafka Fragments, as well as their performance on the High Line. New York work includes The Chinese Lady, Among the Dead, House Rules (Ma-Yi); Sagittarius Ponderosa (NAATCO); Wonderland (Atlantic Theater Co. for Kids); Agrippina (Juilliard Opera). Regional credits include shows at Signature, Yale Rep, Barrington Stage, Berkeley Rep, Berkshire Theater Festival, Playmakers Rep, Triad Stage, and the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center. Faculty: Western Connecticut State University. MFA Yale. oliverwason.com

ALEX CORDERO

Projection Designer

Alex Cordero is a video artist and excited to be back with Heartbeat Opera. They are one of the founding members of The Sperm Whale, a VJ collective based in New York. Alex has performed at Lincoln Center, Queens Museum, Rubin Museum of Art, and held residencies at numerous NYC venues such as Elsewhere and Rubulad. Their work continues to straddle the fine art and nightlife worlds with a colorful pop sensibility. www.thespermwhale.com.

MADISEN FRAZIER

Props Supervisor

Madisen Frazier is a props person, scenic painter, and graphic designer. Originally from Florida, Madisen now lives in New York but works up and down the East Coast. Recent productions include 9 to 5 at Southeastern Summer Theatre Institute, Salome at Heartbeat Opera, and Facings at Urban Stages.  mfrazierprops.com

Mio Guberinic

Mx. Holcomb’s Headdress

Miodrag Guberinic is a New York–based costume designer and artisan from Serbia, with an MFA from Northwestern University. He leads Mio Design NYC, fusing innovation and craft. His work spans Broadway (Frozen, Cabaret, Death Becomes Her), television (Wednesday, Ms. Marvel, Gotham), and film (Wicked, West Side Story). His creations have been worn by Madonna, Lady Gaga, Chappell Roan, Katy Perry, and Bianca Del Rio. His designs have also been featured on the Victoria’s Secret runway and at the Met Gala. For Heartbeat Opera, he has designed costumes for multiple productions, including the Medusa, showcased in the 2021 Exhibition of Spectacular Costumes from Stage and Screen.