 May 5, 2025 – PORTLAND, OR – Portland-based new music powerhouse Dr. Lisa Neher has been named as the 2025 Composer of the Year by the Oregon Music Teachers Association (OMTA) and the 2025 Commissioned Composer by the Iowa Music Teachers Association (IMTA). Each year, Music Teachers Association chapters from around the country recognize outstanding talent in their state with the Composer of the Year Award. As an honoree, Neher receives not only a commission from OMTA and IMTA, but will represent each state in the competition for the national Distinguished Composer of the Year Award, hosted by the Music Teachers National Association. “Lisa’s solid, heartfelt, and timely writing put her on the top of our lists,” shared OMTA Composer-of-the-Year committee members, Paul Safar and Amy Fairchild. “We are proud to have Lisa represent Oregon at the MTNA competition this year.” The commission, Love in a Time of Climate Change, features text by poet Craig Santo Perez, and will be premiered by soprano Lindsey Rae Johnson and pianist Dianne Davies at the OMTA State Conference in the Florence Event Center on Saturday, June 28th. This work marks the third collaboration between Neher and Perez—their last major song cycle (which also included text by Felicia Zamora), No One Saves the Earth from Us But Us, was funded in part by the University of Oklahoma Faculty Senate and the University of Cincinnati Office of the Vice President for Research, to be premiered at a Cincinnati Song Initiative concert this May. In Iowa, pianist and MTNA West Central Division Director-Elect Jason Sifford will present the world premiere of Lisa’s instrumental work, Nautilus, at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa as part of the 2025 IMTA conference on June 8, 2025. A 7-minute piano solo, the work explores the nautilus’s biology, behavior, and ecosystem. “Working with Lisa was a natural choice for our organization,” reflects Sifford. “She has maintained close ties with our community and her work has a strong, unique voice. We are looking forward to the premiere of Nautilus and are proud to have found a place in her growing catalogue.” Described by Willammette Week as “not only as a supremely talented artist, but an unfailingly compassionate creator whose passion for animals and the natural world propels her work,” these commissions are the latest in a long-standing career of award-winning, socially-conscious music. “A friend told me, ‘facts speak to our minds, but art speaks to our hearts,’” shares Neher. “It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the facts of climate change–to dissociate and to freeze. When we feel something, it can propel action.” NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: Lisa Neher and Craig Santos Perez are available for print, online, and broadcast interviews. If you would like more information on the work, the premiere, or would like to schedule an interview, please contact Lisa directly at lisanehermusic (at ) gmail (dot) com.
ABOUT DR. LISA NEHER (Composer) Dr. Lisa Neher (b. 1985, she/her, “NEER”) is an award-winning composer and new music mezzo on a mission to transform audiences through sound, story, and vulnerability. With a voice praised as “full and rich” and “especially alive” (Oregon ArtsWatch), Neher’s performance credits include Portland Opera, Third Angle New Music, Really Spicy Opera, Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Opera Theatre Oregon, New Music Gathering, Resonance Ensemble, Experiments in Opera, Renegade Opera, and Big Mouth Society. Described as a “supremely talented,” “visionary composer” (Willamette Week), “maestro of beautifully wacky noises” (Oregon ArtsWatch) and author of “liquid, impressionist piano writing and fluent melding” of voices (New York Classical Review), Neher’s compositions are inspired by the climate crisis, the tender love of family and friends, and the eerie mystery of deep ocean life. She is Composer in Residence for the Beaverton Community Band. She has been commissioned and performed by the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Cincinnati Song Initiative, Third Angle New Music, FearNoMusic, Dinosaur Annex, New Opera West, Mirror Visions Ensemble, Alma Ensemble, Opera Elect, and Opera Santa Barbara, among others. Her awards include OMTA Composer of the Year, IMTA Composer of the Year, Flute New Music Consortium Competition, ICDA/ICF Choral Competition, Mirror Visions Ensemble Young Composer Competition and the Celebris Ensemble Choral Competition. As the founder and Executive & Artistic Director of New Wave Opera, she has fostered the successful performances of musical works by over fifty living composers and writers, including eight complete opera productions featuring over three dozen Oregon-based vocalists, instrumentalists, and theatre professionals. Neher holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice Performance & Pedagogy from the University of Iowa, a Masters of Music in Composition from the University of Kansas, and undergraduate degrees in Music and Theatre from Lewis & Clark. She is an alumna of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music and the Cortona Sessions for New Music. www.lisanehermusic.com ABOUT CRAIG SANTOS PEREZ (Poet) Craig Santos Perez is a native Chamoru from the Pacific Island of Guåhan/Guam. He is the co-founder of Ala Press, co-star of the poetry album Undercurrent (Hawai’i Dub Machine, 2011), and author of two collections of poetry: from unincorporated territory [hacha] (Tinfish Press, 2008) and from unincorporated territory [saina](Omnidawn Publishing, 2010), a finalist for the LA Times 2010 Book Prize for Poetry and the winner of the 2011 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Poetry. He is an Assistant Professor in the English Department at the University of Hawai’i, Manoa, where he teaches Pacific literature and creative writing. https://craigsantosperez.wordpress.com/ ABOUT LINDSEY RAE JOHNSON (Soprano)
Lindsey Rae Johnson (she/her) is a versatile vocalist and performer originally from Minneapolis, now based in Portland, Oregon. She has graced local stages with Portland Opera, New Wave Opera, Renegade Opera, OperaBend, Ping & Woof Opera, Lark Opera, Queer Opera, Opera on Tap, Opera in the Park, Light Opera of Portland, Mocks Crest Productions, Classical Revolution PDX, and the Dickens Carolers. Recent roles include Camila (Pepito), Asha (Meow and Forever), Jane (Serial Killers and the City), Narrator (Thump), Maya (Sense of Self), Victoria Booth/Vitellia (La clemenza di Tito), Freia and Wellgunde (Das Rheingold), Foreign Princess (Rusalka), and Gertrud (Hänsel und Gretel). Beyond Oregon, Lindsey has performed with esteemed organizations such as Fort Worth Opera, the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Lamplighters Music Theatre, Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute, Waffle Opera, Oberlin in Italy, the Frost School of Music in Salzburg, and Sieur Du Luth Summer Arts Festival. A passionate advocate for innovation in opera, Lindsey is Co-Founder and Resident Soprano of New Wave Opera and serves on the AGMA Board of Governors and NW Area Committee. She holds music degrees from Luther College and the University of North Texas. www.lindseyraejohnson.com “Lisa is unafraid to make bold and daring choices—and it makes her extremely fulfilling to work with as a vocalist. Her expertise shines through in every project, from her prowess in text setting and musical storytelling to her deep sensitivity in crafting interesting lines that fit naturally in the voice. Her latest work may challenge the audience, but her wit, creativity, and sincerity will spark both laughter and deep feeling from listeners.” Lindsey Rae Johnson ABOUT DIANNE DAVIES (Piano) Dianne Davies has been a collaborative pianist since she was in the fifth grade, playing for congregational singing at church, accompanying her classmates in competitions to playing for the fifth grade choir and school musical at Hartley Elementary in the Reynolds District. Ever since, collaborating has been top on her priority list for performance. Beyond her Bachelor of Arts degree in Piano Performance and completing the Oregon music education certification for K-12 instruction at Lewis & Clark College, Dianne has been provided a plethora of performance opportunities. Dianne is also a composer and since 2017 her compositions for students have been performed in the Cascadia Composer’s sponsored concert In Good Hands, a concert that links music students with local living composers. Many OMTA teachers have worked with her as a composer for their students. In addition to her passion for performing, she operates a full piano studio spanning ages K-12 to recreational adults. Dianne is Nationally Certified through MTNA and is starting her journey as a Syllabus adjudicator. At the state level of OMTA Dianne chairs the State Composition Festival and at the National level she chairs the State Composition Competition. Dianne is committed to bringing up the next generation of composers. www.musiqPOWER.com “Lisa’s music engages audiences in creative and meaningful ways. She is world class—definitely a force to be reckoned with.” –Dianne Davies Comments are closed.
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