Current Collective Artists
Sydney Anderson
(she/they)
Founder & Artistic Director,
Soprano, Director, Community Workshop/Educational Outreach Facilitation
2023:
Soprano/Director/Curator: MIXT: A Living Gallery
Lizzy Cover/Stage Manager: The Smallest Sound, in the Smallest Space
Soprano/Music Director: Words of the Prophets
Librettist/Soprano/Actor: The Women Have Something to Say
Past Projects:
Singer-Songwriter/Actor: Getting High With the Family That You Chose, Executive producer/ Soprano/Poet: Vexations in Time (Anita’s Way) & Vexations in Time (the cell)
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 and conducts the Preperatory ensembles for Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
Julian Wild
(he/him)
Singer/Songwriter, Actor,
Lighting/Sound Designer
2023:
Sound Designer/Composer/Curator: MIXT: A Living Gallery
Lighting Designer/Stage Manager: The Smallest Sound, in the Smallest Space
Narrator: Words of the Prophets
Lighting/Sound Design: The Women Have Something to Say
Past Projects:
Singer-Songwriter/Actor: Getting High With the Family That You Chose, Featured Musician/ Stage Manager: Vexations in Time (Anita’s Way) & Vexations in Time (the cell)
Julian is an all-around music, theater, and creativity wizard-ninja. He’s a production manager and creative consultant for experimental and devised works. Juls is also a Life Coach for creative professionals, hobbyists, and dreamers the world-over through his service Let Me Help You Love You (dot com). Through this work, he seeks to make our systems, our households, and even our own minds more accepting and healthy places for people to be themselves. Julian’s greatest love in life is writing, performing, and manifesting music. An award-winning songwriter and producer, he is an audio engineer at the National Opera Center in Manhattan and runs his own private production service Wild Humans Studios, where he creates and publishes original recorded art under the moniker Julian Wild. You can support him directly by streaming and sharing his work on all music platforms. You can find him online at https://linktr.ee/ActualJulian and say hello on any social media sites @actualjulian
Micaela Bottari
(she/her)
Musician, Songwriter,
Project Manager, Associate Producer, Stage Design
Past:
Audience Experience Support: The Smallest Sound, in the Smallest Space
Set/Stage Design: Words of the Prophets
Graphic Design: What Do YOU Have to Say?
Micaela is a Brooklyn-based artist who specializes in creative production at the intersection of art and technology. She translates this passion to music (her own), theater (such as set design for Words of the Prophets), and web3 (the digital collectible wild west of the internet). An integral part of the Metaversal studio since its inception in 2021, she brings new IP and stories to life in the digital age. Micaela currently manages the studio’s flagship project, Omega Runner, in collaboration with Clubhouse Pictures (credits include KATE, I, Tonya, and Birds of Prey). Other professional passions include education programming and development. In 2020 Micaela created a collaborative, arts-driven, mentorship-focused program for Dallas high school students to highlight the validity, complexities, and joys of a multi-hyphenate artistic career. Despite spending most of her days among futurist-technologists, Micaela still considers herself a luddite in sheep's clothing and would prefer to sip coffee, read, and find community among the trees.
Alberto Medero
(he/him)
ASL interpretor, actor, poet
Past:
Poet/ASL performer: Vexations in Time (Anita’s Way) , Vexations in Time (the cell), MIXT:A Living Gallery
Actor/ASL interpreter: Words of the Prophets
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.
Mary-Angela Granberry
(she/her)
Movement Artist / Actor: Vexations in Time (Anita’s Way) & Vexations in Time (the cell)
Ian Sutherland
(he/him)
Director/Editor: Getting High With the Family That You Chose, Graphic Designer: The Why Collective Logo/Stickers
Bryce McClendon
(they/them)
This Season:
Featured Artist, MIXT: A Living Gallery
Playwright, The Smallest Sound in the Smallest Space
Past:
Featured Artist: Vexations in Time (the cell)
Nicole Kenley-Miller
(she/her)
Creator/Director: The Women Have Something to Say, Featured Poet: Vexations in Time (Anita’s Way), Vexations in Time (the cell)
Vayl Larkin
(they/them)
Poet / Playwright: Words of the Prophets, Featured Poet: Vexations in Time (the cell), MIXT: A Living Gallery
Peter Ver Brugge
(he/him)
This Season:
Visual Artist: MIXT: A Living Gallery
Past:
Visual Artist: Vexations in Time (Anita’s Way) & Vexations in Time (the cell)
Dicky Dutton
(they/she)
This season:
Featured Artist: MIXT: A Living Gallery
Past:
Featured Artist: Vexations in Time (Anita’s Way), Vexations in Time (the cell)
Curiosity in words and emotional literacy lie at the heart of performance artist Dicky Dutton’s work. Their collaborations with organizations like Aural Compass Projects, Opera Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Choral Arts Society, Wear Yellow Proudly, Cincinnati Opera, and the Nahant Music Festival have highlighted the importance of working toward equity and creative joy in themself and surrounding communities. Recently they have collaborated with the ENA Ensemble as librettist for “Mercury Admits:” a set of new songs for soprano and cello commissioned for the Serial Opera & New Songs Series. Their words have also shared space with The Why Collective’s “Vexations in Time” - a 14 hour long, interdisciplinary performance art piece where Dicky premiered two original works commissioned for the event - “Inconsequential noises break” and “I am in the sun.” Additionally, their poetry has been set and premiered by partner and collaborator, Michael Lewis, in their story-telling recital Before Body Meets Earth co-created alongside soprano, Chelsea Fingal DeSouza, and director, Ellen Jackson. Through a wide variety of composers and poets, Before Body Meets Earth blends the formal classical recital with devised theater to tell a story of two people struggling to find the empathy to connect while attending couple’s therapy. Dicky remains active as a vocalist in the Opera Philadelphia Opera Chorus, the Philadelphia Chorale Arts Society, and as music-director and cantor for the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church of Frankford, PA. Opera Philadelphia additionally employs them to work as a teaching artist and as on-site coordinator for T-VOCE where they guide young singers and story-makers through musicianship and creativity-building residencies. Off the stage, Dicky works with Aural Compass Projects as administrative assistant and creator/project manager of the organization’s Emerging Composer’s Competition and all associated events. Most mornings they can be found seated by their bunnies searching for juicy words before a day of teaching and singing in the greater Philadelphia area.
Heather Jones
(they/them)
This season:
Brittain in The Smallest Sound, in the Smallest Space
Past:
Co-producer: Vexations in Time (Anita’s Way), Co-producer/ mezzo-soprano: Vexations in Time (the cell)
Mezzo-soprano Heather Jones (they/them) performs classical and crossover repertoire with “mischievous freshness and enthusiasm” and recently placed fourth and won the Sherrill Milnes Opera Award in the American Traditions Vocal Competition. In 2021 Heather sang the role of Hannah After in the Maine premiere of As One with Opera Maine and joined Opera Company of Middlebury as Paquette in a film production of Candide that Opera News called “superb.” In past seasons, Heather has performed with Opera Philadelphia, New York City Opera, American Lyric Theatre, Opéra Louisiane, Opera Fayetteville, Opera Saratoga, and ChamberQUEER in NYC.