Sydney Anderson is a versatile soprano, actor, director, educator, and the founder of The Why Collective. A contemporary classical music enthusiast, Sydney has participated in numerous World Premieres as well as workshops at various stages of the creation process. She has most recently been featured with American Lyric Theater, Beth Morrison Projects, HERE Arts, Opera Saratoga, and Opera NEO. Last season, she created the roles of Dalinda in the World Premiere of Being Ariodante by Jonathan Dawe with Ensemble Échappée, One in the World Premiere of "it is a comfort to know" at National Sawdust, and portrayed Ruth Bader Ginsburg in "Scalia/Ginsburg" with Opera in the Heights. This season, she will sing Marzelline in Beethoven's "Fidelio" with Opera Company of Middlebury. Sydney was named an Eastern Region Finalist after winning the Eastern District of the 2020 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and went on to win the Audience Favorite Award at the Region Finals. When she is not singing or fostering creative laboratories for artists, she teaches early childhood music education classes.

Alberto has been providing interpreting services in the educational, medical, and performing arts world throughout the NYC area for the past 15 years. A proud CODA and native ASL user, he has grown up existing in both the Deaf and hearing world all his life. He credits the beauty of American Sign Language and the Deaf community for allowing him to see and experience things he never could have imagined. Currently serving as the voice interpreter for ASL Slam NYC, Alberto’s credits include off-Broadway works such as A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet, Twilight Zone Spooktacular, and From The Ground Up. He has interpreted for settings such as The Obama Foundation Democracy Forum, musical concerts for artists such as Post Malone, and Bad Bunny, and most recently served as the interpreter for Justina Miles, Deaf performer for Super Bowl LVII, on talk shows CBS Mornings and ABC’s The View. Born and raised in the Bronx, Alberto enjoys his downtime exploring all that NYC has to offer, traveling, listening to music, and spending time with family and friends.

Ian Sutherland is a writer and filmmaker from Chicago.

norm mattox is a poet and a retired spanish bilingual educator whose poetry tells a story of love and resilience in our times of challenge, struggle, and transformation. norm's published collections include: Get Home Safe, Poems for Crossing the Community Grid, published in 2016, Black Calculus published in 2021 by Nomadic Press (Pushcart Prize nominated), four crescents published by Collapse Press in 2023, and evaporating rage, published by Black Lawrence Press in 2024. norm’s poetry also shows up in a number of anthologies: Love Letters to Gaia, Letters for the End Times; Vols 1 & 2, maintenant 18, a shape produced by a curve to mention a few. norm is presently working on a couple of projects for the 2025 season.

Micaela Bottari is a New York based stage and production designer for live performance and film. Her approach to design is driven by love of character, intention, and experimentation. Her work has appeared at the cell theater, The Tank, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Sundance Film Festival and SXSW. Micaela is a Colt Coeur Theater company member, a core member of The Why Collective, and a resident artist at the Flying Carpet Festival, a circus festival on the Turkish-Syrian border. Micaela is currently an MFA candidate in Theater: Design and Technical Production at Brooklyn College. Prior to designing, she studied classical voice and holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Westminster Choir College. With over ten years of performance experience, she loves to wear both hats, and finds that one often influences the other. www.micaelabottaridesign.com

Musician/Educator/Wearer-of-Many-Hats Derek J. Weagle (they/them) is a Brooklyn-based artist and healer invested in the disruption of social and academic barriers around classical music, as well as the preservation of music-making as an act of joyful humanness. With a practice rooted in syncretism, Derek can be found equally comfortable in roles ranging from conductor to composer, performer to teacher. They hold a B.M. in Music Education from UMass Lowell and an M.M. in Composition with a minor in Choral Conducting from New England Conservatory, as well as a Certificate in Sound Healing from the Sage Academy of Sound in Woodstock, NY, and a Certificate in Biosonic Sound Repatterning with Dr. John Beaulieu. Derek will receive an Artist Diploma in the Gabriela Ortiz Composing Studio at the OAcademy Music Conservatory as a member of a select cohort of twelve international artists in June 2025. For more information on Derek’s artistic practice and services offered, see their website at www.derekjweagle.com

Chinese American soprano Abagael Cheng (she/they) is an opera singer, creative producer, and activist who strives move audiences toward social activism through storytelling. She aims to deepen relationships within and between communities by centering politically relevant narratives and collaboration in her productions. Most recently, Cheng created and produced an original interdisciplinary recital at Culture Lab LIC, The Hunger & The Haunt, which explored how folks from the AANHPI diaspora reclaim connection to their heritage and discover pathways toward ancestral nourishment. A 2025 grant recipient of Flushing Town Hall’s Arts Grants for Queens and Queens Arts Fund’s New Work Grant, Cheng won first place in the voice division of the 2023 Delta Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition and the Penelope Davis Hart Honorable Mention at The Philharmonic Society of Arlington 2024 Young Artist Competition. An enthusiast of contemporary music, they have participated in the development and premieres of new operatic works with The Why Collective and The American Opera Project. In addition to her musical pursuits, Cheng is a world champion ultimate frisbee player and will compete this summer at the World Ultimate Club Championships in Ireland. A representative of the U.S.A. National Team, she has won gold medals in the sport at the national and international levels.

AJ Rodriguez is a San Jose Bay Area tenor who has performed from coast to coast and has been praised for his "earnest lyricism." He has performed with noteworthy organizations such as Beth Morrison Projects, NY Philharmonic, and Bach Vespers NYC. Last year, he reprised his role as Lee for an off-broadway showcase of “The Smallest Sound in the Smallest Space”, an interdisciplinary stage play involving opera (a "plopera," if you will) as well as joined forces with the professional choir, The Sound Between to perform an interdisciplinary staged version of Joby Talbot’s “Path of Miracles.” Within the last year, AJ has delved into arts production and administration. He currently runs and co-manages Lyric Arts Collective and sits on the board of the non-profit, The Why Collective. AJ has a deep love for education and interdisciplinary work-- he has long-term goals to find ways to bridge a gap in the accessibility of music and arts in low-income/disadvantaged communities. AJ is currently a permanent vocalist with Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church NYC. He holds a Masters Degree from the Manhattan School of Music and a bachelors in Music Education from San Jose State University. He currently resides in NYC.

Baritone and performance artist, Dicky Dutton (they/she), has performed with a wide variety of organizations as soloist, chorus member, and deviser. An avid lover of new music, Dicky has premiered new works with Beth Morrison Projects, Liberty City Arts, Bearded Ladies Cabaret, Cincinnati Opera, the American Lyric Theater, Aspen Summer Music Festival, the Why Collective, and in multiple recitals across the US. Outside of conceptualizing and performing new works, Dicky remains active as a vocalist in the Opera Philadelphia Opera Chorus, the Bard Festival Chorale, and as music director for St. Mark’s Episcopal Church of Frankford, PA. They have performed roles such as Der Vater in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel, Third Jew in Strauss’ Salome, Papageno in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, among others, and they are currently working on their first solo EP in collaboration with The Why Collective. They can be found most mornings at home writing poetry in the company of their two beloved rabbits, Cooper and Oliver.

Brian Ellis is a creative coder, composer, and research scientist. His artistic drive lies in using code to democratize creative expression. He founded the Brooklyn Motion Capture Dance Ensemble to explore this concept through the medium of dance, writes participatory chamber music to explore it through concert music settings, and develops open source tools to enable others to create similar work. Brian maintains many performance practices, incorporating classical guitar, somatic movement, Appalachian mountain dulcimer, live electronics, zine-making, and no-input-mixing. He also built and maintains motion-into-midi.com, an open-source tool that lets anyone do motion capture with just their laptop. As a composer, Brian writes chamber music that focuses on audience collaboration, often employing QR codes, cellphone orchestras, and movement-based reactivity, and has worked with Third Coast Percussion, Chromic Duo, Unheard-of Ensemble, and The Why Collective. He has presented works with Lincoln Center and the NY Philharmonic, and has been published in Nature. Brian has degrees in Music and Computer Science from UT Austin, and has previously studied with Nina Young, Mary Kouyoumdjian, Celil Refik Kaya, Russell Pinkston, David Coll, and Sky Macklay. Brian maintains many performance practices, incorporating classical guitar, mountain dulcimer, live electronics, and no-input-mixing. He also built and maintains motion-into-midi.com, an open-source tool that lets anyone do motion capture with just their laptop. As a composer, Brian writes chamber music that focuses on audience collaboration, often employing QR codes, cellphone orchestras, and movement-based reactivity, and has worked with Third Coast Percussion, Chromic Duo, Unheard-of Ensemble, Bergamot String Quartet, The Arm, Apply Triangle, the Subaerial Collective, the Playground Ensemble, and members of zFestival and SōSI. He has presented works with Lincoln Center, the NY Philharmonic, 21st Century Guitar Conference, ICMC, TURN UP, SEAMUS, MICC, SPLICE, NYU-ITP, NYCEMF, and ROCC. Form_Responses1 Brian Ellis is a creative coder, composer, and multi-instrumentalist. His artistic drive lies in using code to democratize creative expression. He founded the Brooklyn Motion Capture Dance Ensemble to explore this concept through the medium of dance, writes participatory chamber music to explore it through concert music settings, and develops open source tools to enable others to create similar work. Brian maintains many performance practices, incorporating classical guitar, mountain dulcimer, live electronics, and no-input-mixing. He also built and maintains motion-into-midi.com, an open-source tool that lets anyone do motion capture with just their laptop. As a composer, Brian writes chamber music that focuses on audience collaboration, often employing QR codes, cellphone orchestras, and movement-based reactivity, and has worked with Third Coast Percussion, Chromic Duo, Unheard-of Ensemble, Bergamot String Quartet, The Arm, Apply Triangle, the Subaerial Collective, the Playground Ensemble, and members of zFestival and SōSI. He has presented works with Lincoln Center, the NY Philharmonic, 21st Century Guitar Conference, ICMC, TURN UP, SEAMUS, MICC, SPLICE, NYU-ITP, NYCEMF, and ROCC.

A multi-genre vocalist, composer, and arranger, Shabnam Abedi is known for her beautiful tone and “lovely warmth” (NY Times). She is one of the six founding members of Voces8 Foundation’s treble ensemble Lyyra and has made her stamp in the choral world with her arrangement “Jhoro Jhoro”. She also sings with premier vocal ensembles like Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble, The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Downtown Voices, Voices of Ascension, and many more. Shabnam studied opera and music education at Mason Gross School of the Arts followed by a Master’s Degree from Juilliard in Jazz Studies making her Juilliard’s first South-Asian American jazz voice graduate. Her debut jazz album with virtuoso pianist Joe Block “Love Shadows” can be found on all platforms. Having played and sung Indian classical music from a young age, Shabnam’s first album “Amar Bijon Ghore” is praised widely in South Asia. Shabnam performs in various different settings and establishments including Jazz at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and Mezzrow.

Sam Brukhman is the Founding Artistic Director of Verdigris Ensemble, a Dallas-based experimental choral ensemble redefining what choral music can be in the 21st century. Working at the intersection of serious art-making, technology, and cultural entrepreneurship, Sam builds immersive performances that pair the human voice with projection, spatial design, generative systems, and bold theatrical staging, turning concerts into worlds audiences step inside. Under Sam's direction, Verdigris was awarded the 2025 "Best of Big D" award for its production of Sahba Aminikia's SHAMS. Praised as "transformative" (D Magazine) and "the creme de la creme" (Dallas Morning News), The company's work has been recognized for its rigor, its emotional clarity, and its insistence that choral music belongs in the cultural conversation about where art is going next.

Rev. Yokasta Tineo (she/her) is a mother, a hermit, and a weaver who also happens to be a Licensed Massage Therapist, Reiki Practitioner, Interspiritual Minister, death educator, facilitator, and founder of Kasa Healing. She assists people in their healing by weaving healing arts, massage therapy, Reiki, somatic practices, and guidance in a way that holds and nurtures their wholeness. In her practice, she is perceptive to each individual, family, and organization she’s in service to and their intentions for wellness and healing; this requires deep listening and a spiritual and culturally rooted approach that mirrors our interconnected nature. Through the integrative implementation of all her learnings, training, and creative wisdom, she customizes healing sessions, circles, workshops, and retreats. Yokasta has a BA in Anthropology and Psychology from Wesleyan University (2007), trained at the Swedish Institute College of Health Sciences (2014), attained her Reiki Master training in the Dominican Republic and NY (2007), is an Ordained Minister from One Spirit Interspiritual Seminary (2020), and has a Certificate in Integrative Thanatology from the Art of Dying Institute (2024).

Nicole Kenley-Miller is known for her colorful and embodied productions of opera and music theatre, both on stage and film. Her stage direction has been noted for its "spirited handling" by Opera Magazine and for being "full of ingenuity" by Houston Press. Nicole's most groundbreaking theatrical music work, The Women Have Something to Say, was featured off-Broadway at Nancy Manocherian's the cell in co-production with The Why Collective and on The John F. Kennedy Center’s Arts Across America Series. She is very much at home both on and off the stage as a director, producer, singer, and creative artist. As Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Sugar Land Opera, she helped establish the former Imperial Theatre, the first professional theatre space in Fort Bend County. She has directed professionally for Painted Sky Opera in Oklahoma City, Opera in the Heights of Houston, and Houston's Gilbert and Sullivan Society. Nicole is currently the Opera Director at University of Oklahoma where she finds her “why” in shepherding young artists to tell the human story through opera and lyric theatre.

Constance Kuntz (she/her) is the creative director for Naked Angels Tuesdays@9 Chicago, a playwright, and a lightworker/hike guide in northern Illinois. She looks forward to expanding the The Why Collective's footprint into Chicago and beyond. www.constancekuntz.com