I have worked with some wonderfully talented people on some amazing projects! Here are some of them!

Evenings in Quarantine: The Zombie Opera

The Cast of The Zombie Opera: Bonnie Bogovich, Liz Rishel, Drew Fogle, Emily Swora, Dustin Wickett, Kevin Hayes, Jordan Speranzo, David Egyud, Bob Miller, and Chris Carter.

My long-term artistic partner, Bonnie Bogovich, and I wrote and produced Evenings in Quarantine: The Zombie Opera in 2010. It is an original multi-media opera that incorporates synchronized filmed set projections with live performers on the stage, set to a pre-recorded soundtrack of original music. In addition to composing the show, Bonnie and I also played the two main leads, Ronnie and Izzie, respectively.

Steam ~ or ~ The Specters of the Knox Mill

Liz (Keyboard), Sean (Drums), William (Bass), and Jordan (Guitar) performing “The Pitch”.

Steam is a steampunk ghost story that I created along with Sean Lenhart, Jordan Speranzo, and William Strom. It is set in Pittsburgh’s Industrial Revolution and tells the story of a scientist’s journey to reunite with her dead husband through the invention of a steampunk machine. It is currently in production to be released episodically online using media-streaming platforms.

Super Smash Opera / Aria Kart

Left to Right: Bonnie Bogovich, Liz Rishel, Jim Newsome, Sean Lenhart, Jesse Buddington
Not pictured: Marjorie Rishel

Super Smash Opera and its successor, Aria Kart are a set of Nintendo fan fic opera pastiche shows (“pastiche” meaning that the plot is original, but the music is borrowed from well-known classic opera.) They were designed to be performed at MAGfest gaming convention, and featured a cast of trained classical singers, and ultimately a full orchestra.

Cryptic Canticles

Cryptic Canticles is a conglomerate of Pittsburgh musicians featuring myself, Bonnie Bogovich, Gwen Schmidt, Judy Kirby, Sean Lenhart, and Jim Newsome. It was formed for the purpose of performing live music, but has since branched into audio experiences. The most well-known of these was the Dracula RadioPlay Experience– a full-immersion audio reading of Bram Stoker’s Dracula read by a full cast of voice actors, and enhanced by music and sound effects. It was released episodically as a podcast that presented each day’s material chronologically in real time.

The Materia Collective

The Materia Collective is a conglomerate of musicians world-wide who collaborate on high-quality fan-produced albums of video game music covers. It provides an amazing community where musicians of different backgrounds to perform, produce, and compose arrangements of their favorite licensed music. To see which albums and projects I worked on with Materia, check out my Artist Page.