The Raven
Digital Program
Current Narrator
Claire Robertson-Preis is a mezzo-soprano, arts administrator, educator, and writer in Portland, OR. In 2024, Claire’s “smooth alto intonement” (Oregon ArtsWatch) shone with Portland Symphonic Choir as the Alto Soloist for a world-premiere dance and choral performance of Rachmaninoff’s Vespers. In 2023, they also devised and performed in Renegade Opera’s She Loves You Back. Other recent onstage appearances in Portland include Norah/Alto Chorus in Renegade Opera's innovative outdoor production of Orfeo in Underland (2021) and Second Lady in Aquilon Music Festival’s production of The Magic Flute (2019). As a choral musician, Claire is on Portland Symphonic Choir’s roster since 2021 and has performed with Resonance Ensemble. Selected past credits from her time as a soprano include: Sam-I-Am in the WV Opera Outreach program of Green Eggs and Ham, and First Lady in the WVU Mainstage production of The Magic Flute (2019). In addition to performing, Claire has also stepped into directing, serving as music director for RHS Opening Act Theatre’s Addams Family (2024), Failure: A Love Story (2023), and Mamma Mia! (2022). Having grown up in Texas and Montana, Claire's connection to music, art, and the environment has been deeply influenced by rural landscapes. Her performances and writing examine the connections between people, our creativity and the places we shape with our actions. When not singing, Claire enjoys hiking, paddleboarding, and trying something new (most recently, stand-up comedy). www.clairerobertsonpreis.com
Past Narrator
Abigail Krawson is dynamic performer, an engaging educator, and a passionate producer of innovative opera and vocal performances. In the 2023-24 season, Abby was a soloist at The JUDY with Renegade Opera, reprising her Mourning Dove portrayal in Bird Songs of Opera, a soloist at Lake Grove Presbyterian Church for Handel’s Messiah with members from the Oregon Symphony, and co-created a new collection of musical selections for Tapestry, a duo concert with LaRiche Lamar. Abby also curated 2 recitals called From the Vault for the Portland Symphonic Choir. She sang in the choruses of Le Nozze di Figaro and a Puccini concert with Portland Opera, a world premiere production of Rachmaninoff's Vespers, a holiday concert, and Beethoven's 9th Symphony with Portland Symphonic Choir. She also joined the Vancouver Master Chorale as the soprano soloist in Poulenc's Gloria. And to end the season, she wrote and directed a musical theater camp and performance for 4th-9th graders at Lake Grove. In the 2022-23 season, she portrayed the Mourning Dove in Renegade’s Bird Songs of Opera, sang a duo concert called Tapestry with friend and vocalist, LaRiche Lamar, and commissioned a new choral work by local composer, Cecille Elliott, for her youth choir. In the 2021-22 season she sang Vivaldi's Gloria and Mozart's Vespers Solennes de Confessore with Eugene Concert Choir, was the soprano Flower in Blythely Ever After, a rock/opera cabaret with Stephanie Blythe at Boston Lyric Opera, and performed with OrpheusPDX as Proserpina in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo. Prior to 2020, Abigail sang Adele in Die Fledermaus with Amarillo Opera, Suor Genovieffa in Suor Angelica with Opera West, joined both The Phoenix Theatre (Sound of Music) and Arizona Opera (La Bohème) as an ensemble member, and took First Prize at the Southwest Vocal Competition. Past season highlights include the saucy Musetta in La Bohème, the vocally punishing, but ever charming Zerbinetta in Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, the charming Marzelline in Fidelio, and Adamo’s heart-wrenching Beth in Little Women. And on the concert stage, she has performed the solos in Strauss’ Brentano Lieder, Mozart's Requiem,and Brahms' Requiem. abigailkrawson.com
The Raven
“Tiny powerful soprano”, Madeline Ross was most recently seen as The Girl/Luna in David Hertzberg's The Rose Elf with OrpheusPDX and was awarded the Anne Marie Gerts Prize at the National Finals of the NATS Artist Awards. Praised for her “brilliant coloratura voice,” “world class” stage presence, and thrilling versatility, Ms. Ross has performed all over the US, most often performing in the NW. In 2023 Ms. Ross made her Portland Opera debut as the First Woodsprite in Dvorak’s Rusalka, made her Music of Remembrance (Seattle, WA) Debut as the Daughter in the world premiere of Qaqnus by Sahba Aminikia, and gave “a supreme performance” of Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre that was “simultaneously intense, dramatic, and humorous” with Cascadia Composers. Ms. Ross’s 2023 season also included role debuts as Tamiri in Il Re Pastore by Mozart and Lucinda in Dark Sisters by Nico Muhly with OrpheusPDX. She was hailed for “effortlessly nailing” her performance as Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and has performed with Portland Opera, The Oregon Symphony, Fear No Music, Resonance Ensemble, 45th Parallel, All Classical RadioOpera Theater Oregon, Shaking the Tree Theatre, and Music of Remembrance. She won first prize at the National Association of Teachers of Singing Classical Voice Competition in 2020 and was honored to take part in a performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. premiering Damian Geter’s An African American Requiem with Resonance Ensemble and NEWorks Philharmonic Orchestra. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2019 as a jazz soloist where she “scatt[ed] to beat the band” (NY Concert Review). Ms. Ross is a founder and Executive Director of Renegade Opera, Portland, Oregon’s unconventional and accessible opera company! www.madelinelross.com | www.renegadeopera.org
Pianist
Hailed as “captivating in her performance” (The Register-Guard, Eugene OR) and “lovely… with a well-focused tone” (Opera News), Emily Evelyn Way is a lyric coloratura soprano based in the Pacific Northwest. She was most recently seen as Sandman/Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel with Eugene Opera, as the Soprano in Renegade Opera’s production She Loves You Back, as Zina in Dark Sisters with OrpheusPDX, Madame Herz in Der Schauspieldirektor in a joint production with Opera Bend and the Central Oregon Symphony, in recital at Oktoberfest in Mt. Angel, Oregon, and in concert with Ping and Woof Opera, singing works from L’Elisir d’Amore, Don Pasquale and La Traviata. Past roles include Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore (Opera Bend), Adele in Die Fledermaus (Eugene Opera), Laurie in The Tender Land, Héro in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Benedict (Eugene Opera), Beth in Little Women (Eugene Opera, Astoria Music Festival), Flora in The Turn of the Screw (Eugene Opera, Opera on the Avalon), and Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel (Opera on the Avalon). Ms. Way has also served as the cover for Violetta in La Traviata (Amore Opera) and Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor (New York Opera Exchange). Other notable operatic roles include Königin der Nacht, Nanetta, and Zerlina, among others. Notably, Ms. Way made her Mexican debut as the Soprano Soloist in Carmina Burana with the Festival Alfonso Ortiz Tirado in Alamos, Mexico, which was broadcast nationally. She has performed in concert with Portland Choir and Orchestra, Music at the Gate in Queens, NY and multiple recital series throughout the country.
Composer
Jesse Preis is a tenor, pianist, and composer, originally from Emblem, Wyoming. Jesse graduated from the University of Montana in 2016 with a BM in Piano Performance & Pedagogy and a BA in Vocal Performance and studied voice abroad in Graz, Austria (The American Institute of Musical Studies) during the summers of 2016. In 2019, Jesse completed an M.M. Vocal Performance at West Virginia University. After relocating to Portland, Jesse has worked as a piano teacher at Hoffman Academy and Lydian Music Studios, the Director of Music Ministry at Prince of Life Lutheran Church and Spirit of Life Lutheran Church, and as a freelance accompanist. They have collaborated with Renegade Opera as a pianist on works such as La clemenza di Tito (2022) and She Loves You Back (2023), they performed with the Lutheran Chorale Association during their 2023 Summer Season, and have collaborated with other church and community choirs in Oregon, West Virginia, and Montana. As a tenor, Jesse has appeared as Perry in Orfeo in Underland (Renegade Opera), Parpignol in La boheme Warhola (Pittsburgh Festival Opera), the First Priest and Armored Guard in The Magic Flute (WVU), and roles in numerous opera scenes productions. In addition to their performing career, Jesse's compositions have been performed by the Northwest Civic Orchestra (Powell, WY), Portland Symphonic Choir, and Renegade Opera.
Stage Manager
Emily Trimble is excited to be working with Renegade Opera for the first time. Originally from Texas, she graduated from UT Dallas and worked in Dallas for a few years at companies such as Undermain Theatre, WaterTower Theatre, and Dallas Children’s Theatre. She moved to Portland in 2012 and has since Stage Managed for Bag&Baggage Productions, Corrib Theatre, Broadway Rose, OPS Fest, and Oregon Children's Theatre. Some of her favorite shows she has stage managed have been In This Corner: Cassius Clay; A Year with Frog and Toad; Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed; and The Great Gatsby. When at home she can be found watching bad action movies with her husband, playing with her two cats, or doing a variety of fiber arts.
Collaborative Partners
Special thank to…
Amber K. Ball
Tristan Cameron
Grace Dawald
Sam McGee
Graham and Sharon Ross
Beckett Royce
Emily Way
Lake Grove Presbyterian Church