A Song For All (2025)
A Song For All is a 15-minute micro opera, with music by Rodrigo Camargo and libretto by Marisa Adame Grady. It was commissioned by No Divide KC in partnership with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City for the “Come As You Are” program.
It tells the story of Julia, an eight-year-old girl who wants to be a singer. On her birthday, she visits the town music teacher. Will he teach her to be a star?
Julia: Bethany Jelinek, soprano
Mr. B: Spencer McIntire, baritone
Sandy: Virginia Reed, mezzo-soprano
Samuel: Riley Buck, tenor
Piano and vocal coach: Neal Long
Emily Somebody (2023)
Soprano, Tenor, Piano, Flute, Violin and Cello.
Libretto and music by Rodrigo Camargo, based on the poems and letters of Emily Dickinson.
Duration c. 55′ – 3 Acts
“Emily Somebody” focuses on the story of the friendship between the poet Emily Dickinson and the man who would become her first editor, Mr. Thomas Higginson.
After reading Mr. Higginson’s article in a newspaper – in which he provides encouraging advice to aspiring poets and writers – the reclusive averse-to-publication and unknown young poet Emily Dickinson makes a bold move and writes him back asking for mentorship. Through an extensive exchange of letters, they fostered a distant but firm friendship based on mutual literary admiration, which would continue for the entirety of Emily’s life.
After her death, many years apart from their first contact, her poems finally reached new and broader audiences. A book containing a collection of her poems – and that thus presented her poems to the world – was edited by Mr. Thomas Higginson, and was a huge success. It transformed the so-far unknown and reclusive Emily Dickinson into one of the most important poets of all time.
Ultimately, this is a story about a young artist finding out her own voice and discovering the importance of poetry in her life.
CAST AND ENSEMBLE
Sierra Shoemaker – Emily Dickinson
Kyle Melton – Mr. Thomas Higginson
Meghan Rhoades, Piano
Christopher Ludwig, Flute
Espen Lilleslatten, Violin
Katie DeLaMare, Cello
Emily Frederick, conductor
Sydney Sorbet, stage director
Meghan Rhoades, rehearsal pianist and vocal coach
Rodrigo Camargo, composer 