$65
The little OPERA theatre of ny (LOTNY) presents Zemlinskys Zimmer / Zemlinsky’s Room from June 5 – 8, 2025, at BAM Fisher (Fishman Space), 321 Ashland Place, Brooklyn NY 11217. Performances: Thursday-Saturday at 7:30PM, and Sunday at 3PM. General admission tickets are $65. For details and ticket information visit https://www.bam.org/opera/2025/zemlinskys-zimmer.
Experience the Italian Renaissance through the filter of fin-de-siècle Vienna! The little OPERA theatre of ny comes to BAM with the story of a love triangle and a murder. Zemlinskys Zimmer / Zemlinsky’s Room is a chamber opera in three parts, with music by Alexander Zemlinsky, featuring his opera A Florentine Tragedy, based on a play by Oscar Wilde. German translation by Max Meyerfeld, with poems by Richard Dehmel and Ferdinand Gregorovius. New chamber orchestrations by Roland Freisitzer.
Sung in German with English Supertitles
running time approx. 85 minutes
CAST
Simone Eric McKeever | Daniel Klein
Bianca, his wife Mary-Hollis Hundley | Sara Kennedy
Prinz Guido Bardi Michael Boley | Oswaldo Iraheta
CREATIVE TEAM
Conductor Tiffany Chang
Director Philip Shneidman
Lighting & Scenic Design Seth Reiser
Projection Design Kylee Loera
Costume Design Lara de Bruijn
Assoc. Music Director Catherine Miller
Production Stage Manager Cordelia Senie
General Manager Jenni Bowman
Assistant Director/Supertitles Dalia Sevilla
Fight Director Brad Lemons
This event is presented by the little OPERA theatre of ny. BAM house and ticketing policies may not apply. BAM membership benefits do not apply.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
MICHAEL BOLEY (Tenor, Prinz Guido Bardi) is an exponent of the romantic Italian and French repertoire, recent performance highlights include, Hermann in Pique Dame, Calaf in Turandot, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Rodolfo in La bohème, and Hoffmann in Les Contes d’Hoffmann. Popular with audiences and critics alike, Michael has been praised for his “meaty tenor” and “vibrant, dramatically alert per formances” (MERCURY NEWS), “firm-voiced” characterizations (OPERA TODAY), and that “…he brought down the house with his rendition of ‘Nessun Dorma’ in the third act.” (NORTH SIDE SUN / JACKSON, MS). Mr. Boley has performed principal assignments for New York City Opera, Opera San Jose, West Bay Opera, Mississippi Opera, Berkeley Chamber Opera, the little OPERA theatre of New York, Opera Charleston, Opera Columbus, among others.
MARY-HOLLIS HUNDLEY (Soprano, Bianca) from Louisville, KY, will be making her company debut at Central City Opera this summer, where she will reprise the role of Joelle Jenner in The Knock, a role which she has also performed at the Glimmerglass Festival and the Cincinnati Opera. She has recently been seen as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth with Opera Orlando, the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors (Dayton Opera), and Gertrude in Hansel and Gretel (Helena Symphony). Her 2023-24 season included the covers of Sister Catherine and Sister Lillian in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking at The Metropolitan Opera, Donna Elvira in Arizona Opera’s Don Giovanni, and Lampito in Adamo’s Lysistrata at Mannes Opera. Other recent engagements include Freia in Das Rheingold with Dayton Opera, and Kayla in Kamala Sankaram’s Taking Up Serpents at The Glimmerglass Festival. She has received awards from the Santa Fe Opera, Wagner Society of New York, and George London Foundation, among others. She is a proud member of the Board of Governors of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) and acts as the Program Manager of Mannes Opera and the Grant Writer for Opera Saratoga.
OSWALDO IRAHETA (Tenor, Prinz Guido Bardi) made his international operatic debut at the Royal Opera House Muscat with Maestro Lorin Maazel and he made his European solo recital debut at the Assisi Performing Arts Festival in Italy. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and North Park University-Chicago, Oswaldo transitioned up from baritone to tenor with acclaimed tenor Vinson Cole. He currently studies with Bill Schuman. He was a member of the Aspen Opera Center and performed with the Martina Arroyo Foundation. He has sung in premieres of operas & song cycles by Luis Díaz Hérodier, Polina Nazaykinskaya, Dina Pruzhansky and Juan Guerra González including the premiere of “Unheard Voices: An Immigrant’s Dream” with Encompass Opera, where he is Artist in Residence. Some of Oswaldo’s performed roles include Rodolfo (La bohème), Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi), Alfred (Die Fledermaus), The Student Prince (title role), Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Tebaldo (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), the Duke of Mantua (Rigoletto) and Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor). This season includes operatic, concert and festival performances in the US, the UK & Italy including the roles of Alfredo (La traviata), Turiddu (Cavalleria rusticana), Beppe (Rita) & Don José (Carmen). www.oswaldoiraheta.com
SARA KENNEDY (Soprano, Bianca) Hailed as an “exciting singer with a killer voice” (Chris Ruel, Operawire), Sara Kennedy is an American soprano from Austin, Texas. Renowned for her rich, powerful sound and commanding stage presence, she is establishing herself as an important emerging artist in both traditional and contemporary repertoire.
In 2024 Sara performed the vocally challenging role of Ruth Atkins in the world premiere of Nicolas Flagello’s Beyond the Horizon with Teatro Grattacielo and won critical acclaim as Pamina in Die ZauberflöteL with Florida Grand Opera. She returned to Sarasota Opera as a studio artist where she sang Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana and covered Lina in Stiffelio. In 2025 she makes a role and company debut with Little Opera of NY as Bianca in Zemlinskys Zimmer and in 2026, returns to Sarasota audiences as Valenciennes in Lehar’s The Merry Widow. Sara was a studio artist with Florida Grand Opera in 2023–2024, singing Annina and covering Violetta in La traviata. She also covered the role of Nedda in Pagliacci and sang Musetta in La bohèmea.
In 2023, Sara Kennedy made debuts with Opera Arlington, performing Fiordiligi in Così fan tuttek and with Camerata Bardi Vocal Academy and Painted Sky Opera singing Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. That same season she was awarded 2nd prize in the Bonnie Cummins Fielder Grant for Vocal Career Advancement by the Wednesday Morning Music Club of Austin, Texas.
In 2022, Sara was an apprentice at Sarasota Opera as well as an opera fellow at OperaFest Sewanee. Sara was named a winner of the Jacqueline Avent Concerto Competition which led to her debut with the Sewanee Symphony Orchestra. Sara Kennedy completed her Graduate Artist Certificate in Opera from the University of North Texas in 2021. She also holds a B.M. in Music Education and an M.M. in Vocal Performance from the University of North Texas.
DANIEL KLEIN (Bass-Baritone, Simone) praised by the New York Times for his “stentorian bass-baritone” and “dark, steely voice,” is known for his powerful and nuanced performances. In 2023, he made his Seattle Opera debut as Judge Moriarty and Stanley in Huang Ruo’s Bound and performed the title role in Gianni Schicchi with New Jersey Festival Orchestra and Opera on the James. Recent roles include John Mayo in Beyond the Horizonwith Teatro Grattacielo, Frank in Die Fledermaus with Sacramento Opera, and The Commentator in Scalia/Ginsburg with Opera Company of Middlebury. He also performed Ted/Dewey in the premiere of Eric Moe’s Artwork of the Future, named one of the top 10 classical music performances of 2023 in New York City. This spring he will return to Teatro Grattacielo as Christ in the world premiere of Daniel Asia’s The Tin Angel and in the winter to El Paso Opera as Colline in La bohème. Daniel also is an adjunct faculty member at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, NY.
ERIC MCKEEVER (Baritone, Simone) American operatic baritone Eric McKeever has won consistent praise for his voice of “power and brilliance” (Chicago Tribune) and “considerable flexibility and a communicative presence enhanced by expressive, crystalline diction.” (Opera News)
Eric’s 2024-2025 season includes performing The Pirate King in Opera Project Columbus’ The Pirates of Penzance, joining the Memphis Symphony Orchestra in partnership with Opera Memphis as a soloist in Amadeus: The Music and the Myth, returning to On Site Opera as Dante for the world premiere of Laura Kaminsky’s Lucidity. He will reprise the role of Dante in his debut with Seattle Opera. 2025 brings a return to Nashville Opera as Sir Joseph in HMS Pinafore, making a role debut as Talbot in Opera Baltimore’s Maria Stuarda, appearing as a soloist for Indianapolis Opera’s 50th Anniversary Gala, making his debut with Ft. Worth Opera as Alidoro (La cenerentola), and joining Little Opera Theatre of NY as Simone in Zemlinsky’s rarely heard Eine florentinische Tragödie.
Last season he reprised his Monterone (while covering Rigoletto) with Opera Delaware and Opera Baltimore. He also made his Princeton Symphony debut in Mozart’s Requiem, returned to Opera Columbus as Papa (Papageno) in a re-imagined take on Mozart’s Magic Flute, entitled The Temple, and made his Opera Memphis debut as Schaunard in La bohème.
ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM
JENNI BOWMAN (General Manager) Jenni is an independent creative producer and facilitator of live performance and experiences. Previously a producer at the Park Avenue Armory, International Contemporary Ensemble, Discovery Green, a public park in downtown Houston, Texas and for Philip Glass’s Days and Nights Festival in Big Sur, California. She now runs Show Show, a performance producing company. Jenni’s first job in NYC was Producer of the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island. For LOTNY: 2 Little Tragedies of Pushkin; Mitridate, re di Ponto.
TIFFANY CHANG (Conductor) Taiwanese-American conductor Tiffany Chang has been recognized by the Solti Foundation U.S., OPERA America, and The American Prize. Tiffany has been engaged by the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, The Dallas Opera, Portland Opera, Minnesota Opera, and Opera Columbus. Other engagements include BlueWater Chamber Orchestra, OperaHub, College Light Opera Company, Dinosaur Annex New Music Ensemble, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, Brookline Symphony Orchestra, Boston Conservatory, University of Missouri-Kansas City, NEMPAC Opera.
Tiffany optimizes work culture for job satisfaction, promotes psychological safety for musicians, and leverages people-first leadership for artistic excellence. She authors the blog “Conductor as CEO” and is a published contributor for Routledge Press, Leader to Leader, Notes from the Podium, and PM World Journal.
For the first decade of her career, Tiffany revolutionized orchestral programs as a conductor and professor at Oberlin Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, Boston University, and Baldwin Wallace Conservatory. For more: www.tiffanychang.net.
LARA DE BRUIJN (Costume Design) was born and raised in the culturally rich Canadian city of Winnipeg, where her love and training in all things theatrical began. She moved to New York for Graduate School at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Design for Stage and Film. A dedicated lover of theatre and opera, it took a theatre director to swing her over to design her first feature film, The Good Catholic, which premiered at Santa Barbara International Film Festival where it won Best Independent Feature Film. For LOTNY, she has designed eight productions, including Jupiter’s Journey to the Earth, Owen Wingrave, Piramo e Tisbe, Prince of Players, and Opportunity Makes the Thief.
ROLAND FREISITZER (New Chamber Orchestrations) Austrian composer, conductor and writer Roland Freisitzer was born on 16th of August 1973. In 1989 he moved to Moscow to study composition with Alfred Schnittke and Edison Denisov. After several interruptions of his studies due to conducting activities, he finished his studies 1999 at the Baku Music Academy in the class of Prof. Faraj Karaev.
Apart from his spell as principal conductor and artistic director of “The Moscow Orchestra” (1994-1999), he was principal guest conductor of the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Orchestra and the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra. From 2002 until 2016 he was co-artistic director and conductor of “Ensemble Reconsil Vienna”, which performed more than 100 world premieres under his direction. He has conducted KammarensembleN (Stockholm), Ensemble “die Reihe” and the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra (with whom he also performed the Lithuanian premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s D’om le vrai sans together with Kari Kriikku). His works are performed by Ensembles such as “ensemble reconsil”, Ensemble Modern, Hugo Wolf Quartet, Ensemble “die Reihe”, Ensemble Kontrapunkte, KammarensembleN, GAGEEGO!, Studio New Music Moscow, Schönberg Center Vienna, Wien modern, Dresdner Tage für zeitgemäße Musik, RadioKulturHaus Wien and the Beijing New Music Festival, among many other places, countries and festivals.
He won the Austrian “Outstanding” award in 2009 for his Dies Irae. Austrian Radio has released a portrait CD of his works, other works are available on Phoenix Records, Spektral Records and Extraplatte.Roland Freisitzer’s music is (with the exception of arrangements of works by Alexander Zemlinsky, Bela Bartok, Anton Webern and Claude Debussy, which are published by Universal Edition AG) exclusively published by ApollEdition Vienna. Since September 2019 he has led the ensemble for contemporary music at Musik-und Kunstuniversität der Stadt Wien. His three novels Frey (2021), Die Befreiung (2023) and Hyänen (2025) are published by Septime Verlag Wien.
BRAD LEMONS (Fight Director) has collaborated with LOTNY on Piramo e Tisbe, Prince of Players, and Markheim. Metropolitan Opera House: Romeo et Juliette, Otello, Carmen. Broadway: currently Camelot, previous: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Off-Broadway: Treasure Island, Hamlet, Macbeth. Film: Bear With Us. TV: All My Children. Current Faculty: Circle in the Square and The Neighborhood Playhouse. He is the President of the American Association of Fight Directors.
KYLEE LOERA (Projection Design) is a video designer and content creator/editor for live theatre, dance, and musicals based in New York. Some design credits include: 92nd Street Y Kaufman Concert Hall (Louder Than Words: The Songs and Legacy of Jonathan Larson, Rebel With A Cause: Nina Simone, Soul Picnic: The Songs and Legacy of Lara Nyro, Cockeyed Optimist) 59e59 Theaters (The Light and the Dark) Washington National Opera Kennedy Center (Gods and Mortals, Fidelio) The Muny (Anything Goes, Beautiful, Legally Blonde, Camelot) Shepherd School of Music Rice University (Ghosts of Versailles) Pittsburgh CLO (Young Frankenstein, The Color Purple). Associate Designer MET Opera (Florencia En El Amazonas, Champion) Orpheum (Big Gay Jamboree). More at kloeradesign.com
CATHERINE MILLER (Associate Music Director) has enjoyed her career in New York as an accompanist for voice recitals, auditions, and regional opera productions. She has worked at the Mannes College of Music in the College, Extension, and Preparatory divisions, playing for lessons, juries, recitals, workshops, and song literature classes. Ms. Miller was music director for LOTNY’s inaugural concert, Gardens of Disguise, at the Kosciusko Foundation; she also led The Bohemians at Socrates Sculpture Park, The Mother of Us All at The Box, and New Voices at the Kosciusko Foundation. Catherine studied with Walter Cook at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Elizabeth Rich in New York.
SETH REISER (Lighting & Scenic Design) is a New York based lighting and set designer working in theatre, dance, opera and music. Favorite designs include: Alisa Weilerstein’s Fragments directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer currently in development and touring the US, Esperanza Spalding’s Twelve Spells American Tour directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer; Peter Eotvos’ Tri Sestri at the Ural Opera (Golden Mask Nomination) directed by Christopher Alden; Henze’s El Cimarrón at Festival Impulso in Mexico City directed by Robert Castro; Yara Travieso’sSagittarius A at EMPAC in Albany; Vietgone, directed by May Adrales; Hair, directed by Kevin Moriarty; Claude Vivier’s Kopernikus, directed by Peter Sellars; Come & Back Again, with David Dorfman Dance; King Lear, directed by Kevin Moriarty; The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, by Mike Daisey, directed by Jean Michele Gregory; Radio Play, directed by Kip Fagan; The Whale, directed by Hal Brooks; The Lily’s Revenge, by Taylor Mac; Middlemen, directed by Josie Whittlesey. Seth also designs regularly for the SF Symphony Sound Box. For LOTNY: Mitridate; American One Acts; Jupiter’s Journey to the Earth.
Seth holds an MFA in design from NYU’s Tisch School of Design for Stage and Film, and a BA from Ohio Wesleyan University where he studied theatre, philosophy, and the fine arts. Seth is from Houston, TX. He now lives in Rochester and Manhattan, NY with his wife Mary and their beautiful children.
CORDELIA SENIE (Production Stage Manager) is a stage manager working in NYC and Paris, and an alumna of the Juilliard Professional Apprentice Program. She is excited to be returning to LOTNY for the third year in a row! Recent credits include: Romeo et Juliette and Le Nozze di Figaro (Palm Beach Opera); Jupiter’s Journey to the Earth and American One Acts (LOTNY); Il barbiere di Siviglia (Tri-Cities Opera); The Immersive Coffee Cantata (On Site Opera); and multiple seasons with The Little Orchestra Society. Find her at csenie.wordpress.com
DALIA SEVILLA (Assistant Director/Supertitles) is a director and lighting designer. She is the founder of La Senta through which she recently directed Ice-ing on the Cake. Credits include: Off-Broadway U.S. premiere of the musical Of A Lifetime; For the Love of Natalie Woods (Communal Spaces); the premiere of Bismillah (Fresh Fruit Festival). She is the founder of the Classical Voice Collective at NYU, directing Bastien und Bastienne, Hänsel und Gretel, Riders to the Sea, and Daphnis et Chloé. She has been the recipient of the Harrower Music Festival directing fellowship and Boundless Theater Company lighting design fellowship. Her lighting design credits include:An Unfunny Evening with Tim Minchin and his Piano North American Tour, Truckers at INTAR, It’s in the Play (1st Irish Festival); Once on this Island (Summer Theatre of New Canaan, dir. George Faison); One Night Only: An Evening with Norm Lewis (NY Pops at Carnegie Hall); Lifeline (Boundless Theater Company); Fiddler on the Roof (NYU Drama Therapy Dept); Self Love Kind of Thing (ChristinaNoel and the Creature). For LOTNY: Piramo e Tisbe, Owen Wingrave, Zemlinskys Zimmer (1st workshop).
PHILIP SHNEIDMAN (Director) is the founder of the little OPERA theatre of ny. Recent productions include the original adaptation and translation of a Haydn marionette opera Jupiter’s Journey to the Earth, the combination of William Grant Still and Kurt Weill as American One Acts: a double bill, and Benjamin Britten/Myfanwy Piper’s Owen Wingrave. Earlier productions include J.A Hasse’s Piramo e Tisbe, the NY Premiere of Carlisle Floyd’s Prince of Players, an original adaptation of Chevalier de Saint-Georges L’Amant Anonyme, Floyd’s Slow Dusk & Markheim. Other operas include Eugene Onegin and Dialogues of the Carmelites at The Mannes College of Music as well as Purcell’s The Tempest at Rutgers. His theater directing credits include: Fully Committed (Adirondack Theatre Festival); and Romeo & Juliet (Queens Theatre in the Park), A Drowned Girl [1919] (HERE). As an assistant director on Broadway, he worked on The Full Monty, and the Gutierrez productions of A Delicate Balance and The Heiress. For BAM, he was a Production Assistant on the first tour of The Black Rider. BFA, NYU/Tisch-Playwrights Horizons Theater School.
ABOUT THE LITTLE OPERA THEATRE OF NY
Last spring, the little OPERA theatre of ny [LOTNY] produced Jupiter’s Journey to the Earth at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. An original adaptation and translation of Haydn’s marionette opera Philemon und Baucis. It was little OPERA’s first family friendly production of Opera & Puppets for Kids and was called “delightful…spirited… [and] engaging” in Opera UK.
The previous season American One Acts, a double bill was presented at the Baruch Performing Arts Center. The production paired Highway 1, U.S.A. by William Grant Still, libretto by Verna Arvey, with Down in the Valley by Kurt Weill, libretto by Arnold Sundgaard. The NY Classical Review credited little OPERA for “brightly reviving a pair of American rarities” and calling the performances “outstanding.”
Since its founding in 2004, the little OPERA theatre of ny has presented four NY Stage Premieres: Britten/Piper’s Owen Wingrave; Hasse/Coltellini’s Piramo e Tisbe; Floyd’s Prince of Players; Mozart/Cigna-Santi’s Mitridate, re di Ponto; two US Stage Premieres: Saint-Georges/ Desfontaines/De Genlis’ L’ Amant Anonyme; Cui/Pushkin’s A Feast in the Time of the Plague; one World Premiere: Zaretsky/Kharms Man in a Black Coat: and commissioned a new translation of Mozart/Metastasio’s Il re pastore as The Shepherd King from Mark Herman & Ronnie Apter.
LOTNY’s concerts have included Past & Present on Governors Island; This Little Light of Mine at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center, The Bohemians at Socrates Sculpture Park and Floydiana at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music.
To date, the little OPERA theatre of ny has performed in four boroughs. Previous performances in Brooklyn included the GK Arts Center and The Bushwick Starr.
lotny.org
ABOUT BAM FISHER (FISHMAN SPACE)
BAM is the home for curious people and adventurous ideas. We support artistic experimentation and champion inclusion and accessibility throughout the arts as presenter, activator, and connector.
