SCRAPBOOK
Cape Town Opera Presents
The Cunning Little Vixen
Music and Original Libretto by Leoš Janáček and Adapted for Families by Alan Olejniczak
Cape Town Opera’s family-friendly staging of The Cunning Little Vixen celebrates nature’s beauty and the cycle of life. A joyful, English-sung adventure full of colour, creatures, and heart. Watch the Trailer
JULY 21 - 26, 2026
Joseph Stone Auditorium
Cape Town, 7764, South Africa
Photography by Oscar O'Ryan
STAGING STORIES
Cape Town Opera's Incubator for New South African Opera
Saturday, July 25th, 2026
On the Line - Sibahle Mabaso
NPC Etudes - David Wolfwinkel and Liam Jaftha
Bloedbranders with James Geldenhuys and Dianne Du Toit Albertze
Composer-Librettist Studio
June 13 - 28, 2026
Hosted by the Music Department of the University of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC
My old website banner
Synchromy and The Wente Museum present a workshop performance of micro-electronic opera about a brief moment, a computer error, and a momentous decision by one man that could have altered the course of humanity.
Sergey Nesterov, composer and performer; Alan Olejniczak, librettist; Diana Wyenn, director; Sam Clevenger, projection designer
Rebecca Carr, costume designer; Joey Guthman, lighting designer; Brittany White, prop artisan; Cordey Lopez, AV technician;
Yaroslav Rybakov, mix engineer; Synchromy, producer
Saturday, May 24, 2025, at 2pm
The Wende Museum, 10808 Culver Blvd., Culver City, CA 90230
Beatrice + Benedict
Opera Orlando
Friday & Sunday, April 25 & 27, 2025 | 7:30 p.m. & 2 p.m.
Steinmetz Hall, Orlando, FL
Costume Concepts and Renderings
Cape Town Opera SHORTS FESTIVAL
Atlas of Remote Islands
Wente Museum site visit for Petrov
Culver City, CA, Jan 2025
Château d'Orquevaux Artist Residency
Orquevaux, France
January 15th to 28th 2025
- 2024 -
Cape Town Opera is currently hosting a libretto-writing program, with six carefully selected participants guided by acclaimed librettists Stephanie Fleischmann and Alan Olejniczak. The program will culminate in a workshop and final reading of the six new works at Staging Stories: Writing for Opera on 15 March 2025, as part of Cape Town Opera's Shorts
Centre, from left to right: Stephanie Fleischmann, Lebogang Mogashoa, Nontobeko Ngwenya
Bottom, from left to right: Sibuyiselo Dywili, Peggy Mongoato, Sanelisiwe Maliza
Not pictured: Scout Fynn
The Arctic Circle Alumni Expedition
From August 15th to the 29th, I was one of a hundred artists in residence onboard the MV Ortelius. We circumnavigated the archipelago of Svalbard and sailed north through pack ice to reach the 82nd parallel.
Presents the World Premiere of the One-Act Opera
On Our Way
Music by Nathan Wasner
Libretto by Alan Olejniczak
Saturday, July, 13th 2024 7:00pm
Brewability, Englewood, CO
Presented by Synchromy during OperaWeek LA, The World Opera Forum and The Opera America Conference
Dante De Silva - Composer
Alan Olejniczak - Librettist
Anthony Parnther - Conductor
Emily Gallagher - Kennedy
Chloé Vaught - Castro
Amy Fogerson - Khrushchev
Timothy Loo - Cello
Jordan Curcuruto - Percussion
Cathy Miller - Keyboard
Andres Fevos - Keyboard
Lena Sands - Costumes
Micha Carr - Hair and Makeup
Krystal Sands - Vocal Samples
Nick Norton - Sound
Calab Durant - Assistant Sound
End of the Line
Presented by New Opera West
and The Opera Buffs
Director: Michael Van Duzer
MiMoDa Studio
Los Angeles, CA
April 27th and 28th
Babes in Arms: High School
with Lyric Theatre's Thelma Gaylord's Academy, Oklahoma City.
Ronn Burton Direct
-2023-
United Trinity Methodoist Church Denver
Yosef and the Counseling Angel
With Music by Cole Thomason-Redus with text by Alan Olejniczak
December 17th 2023
Sept 13 to Oct 1 2023
Director, Michael Baron
Music Supervisor, Alexander Mickelthwate
Plaza Theater, 1727 NW 16th St, Oklahoma City, OK
at the Overholser Mansion in Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City Philharmonic
Saturday, September 9, 2023 – 8:00 PM
Civic Center Music Hall. Oklahoma City
Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor
Anastasiya Petryshak, violin
with the Marins Girls Chorus May 2023
A World Premiere Opera
Presented by Opera on Tap Colorado
Music by Nathan Hall with Libretto by Alan Olejniczak
Museum of Contemporary Art Denver: Holiday Theater
May 2023
with Opera on Tap Colorado, April 2023
- 2022 -
December 2022
Hypatia
A Full-Length Opera with Music by Afarin Monsouri
and Libretto by Alan Olejniczak
LISTEN HERE
Performed by Stephanie Feigenbaum (voice)
and Candace Chien (piano)
Palm Springs - October to November 2022
Milis, Sardinia - September 5th to Oct 3rd 2022
Jenna Saraco, Sefano Conti, Mallory, Francesca Sassu, Andrea Martìnez, Terézia Fillová, Laura Whittier, and me at PoloPositivo
A lovely article for our open house with my last name spelled incorrectly - twice.
A Song Cycle by Amin Sarrafi
Sung by countertenor Kyle Tingzon
with Ginger Rose Bruckner on harp.
Poetry by Sohrab Sepehri
with text by Alan Olejniczak
"Within darkness, the light of the simple beauties shine brighter. This project is a way for us to both address the philosophical and social issues that we face today, while drawing a parallel between Iranian and western idealism through contemporary Persian poetry." Amin Sarrafi
LISTEN HERE
- 2021 -
Tuesday, September 28, 2021
The Myriad Botanical Gardens Water Stage.
Oklahoma City, OK
Directed by Michael Baron with Alexander Mickelthewate
Alexander Mickelthwait, Michael Baron, Alan Olejniczak, Luke Thomas Eddy, Brayson Williams, and Kris Schinskewolfe
Thompson Street Opera Company
Chicago, September 2021
PHOTOS BY CLAIRE DIVIZIO
UNBOUND
PHOTO CREDIT AMANDA TIPTON/LIGHTING DESIGN WES HALLORAN
UNBOUND
June 2021
Thu, Apr 15, 2021 (14:00)
Sun, Apr 18, 2021 (15:00)
World Premiere of ‘Man Up’ for solo double bassist at the
Oh My Ears New Music Festival. Phoenix, AZ
Will Yager, double bass
Nathan Hall, composer
Texts by Peggy Orenstein, Edited by Alan Olejniczak with Nathan Hall and Andy Lynes
Opera in the Making: Libretto-Writing
This aria, Amir, I love you, was an assignment from an online class I took with Jessica Murphy Moo and the Seattle Opera. This aria from a sketch from White Nights by Dostoevsky, but reset in Teheran.
Afarin Mansouri - Composer
Alan Olejniczak - Librettist
Cheryse McLeod Lewis- Mezzo Soprano
Li-Tan Hsu - Piano
A World Co-Premiere Opera
Music by John Young and Libretto by Alan Olejniczak
In Partnership with Orlando Opera and Thompson Street Opera Company.
FRIDAY | February 19 at 7:30 p.m. SUNDAY | February 21 at 5 p.m.
ORLANDO MUSEUM OF ART
Photos by Opera Orlando & the photographer, Bearded Lens
- 2020 -
23/11/2020 (starting at 1:59:28)
LISTEN HERE
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
NOVEMBER 2020
David David Ricardo Pearce (and family), Nat Ramabulana, and Belinda Pinto
Proscenium Online Theatre
June 2020
My 3:30am first table reading of Next of Kin with the cast, spread over 15 time zones
The old banner on my website by Christopher Turner
- 2019 -
November 2019 - Skagaströnd, Iceland
Alan Olejniczak, Donné Hallot, Kellie McKenna, Gabriella Concha, Sarah Thibault
September 2019
Punch Presentations
Disrupting Climate Disruption: A Day of Creative Action
September 21st, 2019
With John Young, Alex Boyd, Hanna Brammer, and George Hemcher
Sarasota, Florida, July 2018
The 38th Annual William Inge Theatre Festival
Val-Kill
A PlayLab Reading, Friday May 24th at 3:30pm
Independence First United Methodist Church
200 S Penn Avenue
Independence, Kansas
Google Sustainability Team
Google Headquarters, Mountain View CA
April 2019
with Eliza Bovin, Andrew Chung, Adam Niemann, Ashely Gennarelli, and Gabriel Montoya
Lethe
A Monologue Performed
by Liz Hayes
The Sea Ranch, CA
February 2019
Directed by Cole Ferraiuolo, Dramaturgy by Austin Owen,
with Eliza Bovin, Kevin Glass, Phillip Wong, Ashely Gennarelli, and Gabriel Montoya
Artist Residency: November 2018, Katmandu, Patan, Nepal
In partnership with Kaalo 101, Blue Diamond Society, and UNESCO. Micro Galleries International Arts Collective is a global arts initiative that uses art as a vehicle to create positive change, through creative interventions in public spaces, workshops, art tours, symposiums, think tanks, and residencies.
Me with Members of the Blue Diamond Society in Nagabahal, Square, Pātan
SUMMER PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL 9
August 5th 2018
Transgress
Directed by Laura Stribling
with Lucia Towers, Kathy Bell Denton,
Chet Grissom, and Eddie Kehler
SUMMER SOLSTICE EXPEDITION
The International Territory of Svalbard
June 10th to 27th, 2018
Playwrighting Residency
The mission of The Arctic Circle Residency is to foster communication and collaboration between artists, scientists, educators, and activists. The Arctic Circle is a biannual expeditionary residency program that sails the high Arctic, bringing together international artists of all disciplines.
READ MY TRAVELOGUE
The artists, crew and guides before we depart the Antigua.
February 3rd to the 4th
Recording the music for Concerto with Daniel Brown, Kumi Uyeda and Rebecca Wishnia
November 10th -12th
Feeling proud after a long weekend.
Daniel Brown, Nate Ben-Horin, C.A Jordan, Michael Desnoyers, and Wayne Wong
David Long plays while Daniel Brown directs his work.
October 7th, 2017
Me at the door
New York City, September 25th, 2017
Gina Grandi introducing TRANSGRESS
UNFORGIVEN
Cast and Crew of Week One
Z Space, June 2017
2017 Fundraiser
Brad Erickson, Executive Director of TBA and Lisa Malette, President of the Board
Salton Sea, California May, 2017
The old banner on my website by Christopher Turner
Lunch before a table reading of Transgress with Laylah Muran de Asserto, John C. Steele, Dennis Liecktieg, Amanda Club, Karl Schackne, and David Boune
Cabiria Jacobsen sings The Muse in Galois. David Long on keyboard April 2017
Jennifer Beattie and me after the salon of LETHE March 2017
The Artists of Albatross Reach, March Salon: Adam Marks, Jennifer Woodrum Jennifer Beattie, Zach Pluse and Adam Tendler
Chris and me setting up for our Open Studio, March 2017
Standing together at The Ghostlight Project ACT January 2017
Independence Kansas
by Karl Schnecke with At Last Theatre
November, 2016
Ariel Craft directing the rehearsal
The night of the workshop reading
October 2016
with At Last Theatre
April, 2016
A strange coincidence, perhaps, but our poster came first.
with Dover Little Theatre
Marie-Claude Tremblay and Christopher Stoker
January, 2016
Original graphic by Cody Rishell www.codyrishell.com
November, 2015
www.codyrishell.com
at The Foundry in Berkeley, October 2015
Present Tense
with At Last Theatre
City Lights Theatre Company reading of if-than-(else) Nick Beddle with Ladidi Garba, Directed by Ken Savage, October 2015
Co-hosting TBA's Lemonade Fund at PianoFight with Megan Briggs and Stuart Bousel
My first website banner by Michael Christopher
Photo by Michael Christopher
Playwright Center of San Francisco
Directed by Laylah Muran de Asserto and produced by Laylah Muran de Asserto
June 16, 2014
Michael Erikson and the guards
The Chorus of Bodyguards: Andrew Chung, Collin Hussey, Philip Goleman, Jim Gessner, and Karl Schnecke