Kayleigh Butcher Named General Manager of RHYMES WITH OPERA
By: Christina Mancuso Sep. 20, 2016
Rhymes With Opera is thrilled to announce the hiring of Kayleigh Butcher, a vocalist and arts administrator, as its first General Manager, effective immediately. Now entering its 9th season, Rhymes With Opera is a New York City-based chamber opera ensemble and commissioning organization.
As General Manager, Butcher will work with the ensemble's board committees to oversee all aspects of Rhymes With Opera's infrastructure, including contacts, finances, development, production, long-term planning, and publicity.
In addition to this position at Rhymes With Opera, Butcher continues as Executive Director and performing member of Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble. She was previously Operations Director for the Chicago-based group Ensemble Dal Niente, where she executed national and international tours for this 22-member ensemble, prepared and analysed budgets, and facilitated collaborations with high-profile artists such as Deerhoof, Marcos Balter, Raphael Cendo, and Georg Frederich Haas. Butcher has also held posts at Columbia University and The People's Music School in Chicago, where she crafted national messaging and web content, organized national and international conferences, and spearheaded numerous successful fundraising campaigns. Kayleigh is also the co-organizer of the upcoming Resonant Bodies Festival Chicago, scheduled in Spring 2018. She holds a Master's degree in Voice Performance from Bowling Green State University.
RWO founders (from left): Robert Maril, Ruby Fulton, Elisabeth Halliday-Quan (seated) and George Lame (seated, center). Also pictured (from right): Utopia Opera Founder William Remmers and Venture Opera founder Jonathan Thierer.
"I am absolutely thrilled to be Rhymes With Opera's new General Manager," says Butcher about the appointment, "I became familiar with this ensemble during their inaugural Pocket Opera Workshop four years ago, and it's fantastic to now be a part of the creative team. I'm looking forward to the exciting work ahead."
RWO Co-founders and Artistic Directors Ruby Fulton and George Lam said of Butcher's appointment: "We are very excited to have Kayleigh join our team as our first General Manager. Kayleigh is not only an accomplished performer, she is also an artist dedicated to connecting new audiences with new music. She will be a very important member of the RWO team as we move forward in our upcoming commissions and productions."
Hailed for its place "on the cutting edge of innovative repertoire" by Opera News in a cover story of the renowned publication's August 2016 issue, Rhymes With Opera is an ensemble committed to the expansion of the chamber opera repertoire. Having commissioned and premiered over 20 new works since 2007, RWO encourages theatrical innovation through multimedia and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Founded by composers George Lam and Ruby Fulton and singers Elisabeth Halliday, Bonnie Lander and Robert Maril, over its nine successful seasons Rhymes with Opera has produced works for the stage ranging from one minute operas to evening-length works. Having established itself as a haven for experimental composers, RWO has commissioned, produced, and premiered works by an eclectic group of individuals such as Peabody Conservatory of Music's faculty member David Smooke; Erik Spangler-a Harvard-educated D.J. and composer now teaching at Maryland Institute College of Art; Adam Matlock-a renowned accordionist and one half of the New Haven-based ensemble An Historic; and Anna Meadors, composer, saxophonist, and Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University.
In 2016-2017, RWO brings back its well-loved Salon series, in collaboration with Experiments In Opera, Utopia Opera and Stone Mason Projects. Featuring live performances from these groups as well as Rhymes With Opera, the Salon will include the premiere of the piano/vocal version of On Loneliness and Solitude, a new RWO commission by emerging composer Colin Read, also an alumnus of the RWO Pocket Opera Workshop. In the spring, RWO returns to the 124 Bank Street Theatre in Greenwich Village, to produce the world premiere of Bonnie Lander's Coping Mechanisms, an improvisatory opera which explores the need for both privacy and communication in modern society.
RWO has participated in the inaugural season of New York Opera Fest and at the Under The Radar Festival in Omaha, NE. They have produced performances at New York's 124 Bank Street Theatre, Roulette, the Cornelia Street Café, the National Opera Center, ISSUE Project Room, the Actors Fund Arts Center, JACK, the DiMenna Center for Contemporary Music, and York College CUNY. Outside of New York they have performed in Baltimore, Boston, Durham, Philadelphia, New Haven, Hartford and washington DC. Rhymes With Opera is a 501(c)(3) organization that operates out of Manhattan.
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