Raindrop New Music

Raindrop New Music Co-Founders Drew Swatosh, Composer & Vocalist & Lisa Neher, Mezzo-Soprano & Composer both have pieces of music on concerts by Opera Praktikos this Thursday & Friday in NYC!

Wrapping up four-years of operations, OPrak announce Spoon Theory Song Cycle launching NYC's first disability-affirmative opera company into Fifth Fiscal Year with strength.

Spoon Cycle is an hour-long program that interweaves spoken-word from Christine Miserandino’s 2020 essay–The Spoon Theory–with original art songs from living composers/librettists. These musical works highlight the innate emotionality of Miserandino’s powerfully written work that became a watershed moment in Disability culture, transforming the experience of living with chronic illness into an act of creative consciousness.

The art songs presented in Spoon Cycle are a curated selection of works by composers & librettists: Lisa Neher; Jude Duane; Drew Swatosh; Nina Shih; Spencer Edgers; Elizabeth Howell; Jaquay Smith; and Ethan Resnik. They will be performed by a piano trio lead by Kyle Glasgow (Music Director/clarinet), Mercedes Yvonne Lysacker (cello) and Sunny Zhai (piano) with singers, Brian Alvarado (baritone), and Katharine Li (soprano) and featuring spoken-word performance artist, Eman Rimawi-Doster.

Thursday November 20 at 3:00pm - take a midday break and enjoy an hour of music and Spoon Theory, or Friday November 21 at 6:30pm - a great way to wrap up the work week and prep for the weekend ahead at Opera America | National Opera Center at 330 7th Ave in midtown Manhattan on the 7th floor. The venue is fully accessible and ADA compliant.

Buy tickets here https://buytickets.at/operapraktikosinc
This program is also available as a live-stream broadcast on both performance days.

As the 2025-2026 concert season is already in full swing, we think some re-introductions are in order!

First up, meet@Drew Swatosh, Composer & Vocalist!
(they/them):

Who?
Drew Swatosh (they/them) is a Portland, OR-based composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist. “A programmatic composer at heart, stemming from their background in an integrated arts education” (Charles Rose, Oregon ArtsWatch), Drew writes eclectic music described as “music of naked protest and yet subtle beauty” (Lorin Wilkerson, Oregon ArtsWatch) as a means to process the world around them.

What have you been working in?
Incorporating libretto edits from a workshop with theater artist Melory Mirashrafi for their opera with Brian Dang, If Only I Could Give You the Sun.

Fun Fact...
When Drew is not composing music, they enjoy watching women soccer, regular attending home matches for Portland Thorns FC

Congratulations to Raindrop New Music cofounder on a wonderful performance of her piece "she conjures" today with the Iowa Composers Forum!

Libretto by , performed by & !