Mezzo-soprano delivering vivid storytelling and fearless musicality.
Multi-talented mezzo-soprano, composer, and actor Lisa Neher delivers “intensity, power, and vocal prowess” (Oregon ArtsWatch), captivating audiences with richly attuned musical fluency and heartfelt performance. “A supremely talented artist,” (Willamette Week), Neher channels a signature combination of high intelligence, deep passion, fierce tenacity, and an ever-youthful spirit, offering a rare degree of excellence and versatility alongside the ability to “sincerely convey… joy and wonder” (Oregon ArtsWatch). Her wide-ranging experience across genres informs gutsy character portrayals integrated with vivid storytelling through musical performance, making her a magnetic presence onstage known for a voice that is “especially alive… full and rich” (Oregon ArtsWatch). Alongside her flourishing vocal career, Neher is an award-winning composer whose music has earned recognition from the Oregon Music Teachers Association (Composer of the Year 2025), the Flute New Music Consortium, ICDA/ICF, Mirror Visions Ensemble, and the Celebris Ensemble. Commissioning ensembles and organizations include the National Association of Teachers of Singing, American Harp Society, Cincinnati Song Initiative, and Opera Santa Barbara. Her interdisciplinary training and Doctor of Musical Arts degree inform not only her compositional craft but also her interpretive depth as a performer, giving her singing an uncommon level of clarity, intention, and emotional resonance. A visionary creator and leader, Neher is the Founder and President of New Wave Opera, a company that shares fresh, relatable stories by living composers through the medium of opera. Through all facets of her work, Neher champions contemporary storytelling that embraces both the wildness of the natural world and the intimate complexities of human experience.
--Biography by Aligned Artistry
--Biography by Aligned Artistry
Featured Performances
Who are you, Alice? from Alice Tierney
Music by Melissa Dunphy, Libretto by Jacqueline Goldfinger, Produced by arrangement with Mormolyke Press
Role: Zandra | Produced by New Wave Opera
Role: Zandra | Produced by New Wave Opera
Recent & Upcoming Engagements
Jan 16 | New Wave Opera: Currents of Change
Friday, January 16, 2026, 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm Pacific
Portland State University Lincoln Hall
New Wave Opera presents Currents of Change, an examination of our warming world through opera, in collaboration with Portland State University’s Music @ Midday concert series. This free lunchtime concert features exclusive previews of Portland composer Caroline Louise Miller’s opera Deep Water, which NWO will premiere in June 2026. Deep Water is a post-apocalyptic fantasy opera that investigates rage, grief, play, & persistence in the face of gargantuan, destructive forces. Queer teenage companions Val & Bluejay chronicle the fall of humanity during the Anthropocene, acting as witnesses and documentarians and finding resilience through love and play. Deep Water positions 2 queer teenagers in the role of history-creation, defining what is worth preserving.
Complimenting selections from Deep Water are excerpts of modern operas and art songs by living composers about the climate crisis, including songs from Portland composer Drew Swatosh’s Dead Fires Anthology and NWO President Lisa Neher’s major song cycles about climate change No One Saves the Earth from Us But Us and Love in a Time of Climate Change (commissioned by Oregon Music Teachers Association for their 2025 Composer of the Year Award). “The performing arts play a crucial role in confronting the climate crisis,” says NWO President Lisa Neher. “Statistics and daily obligations can overwhelm and distract us, but the arts bring people together to pause and feel, and that shared experience drives sustained collective action.”
Portland State University Lincoln Hall
New Wave Opera presents Currents of Change, an examination of our warming world through opera, in collaboration with Portland State University’s Music @ Midday concert series. This free lunchtime concert features exclusive previews of Portland composer Caroline Louise Miller’s opera Deep Water, which NWO will premiere in June 2026. Deep Water is a post-apocalyptic fantasy opera that investigates rage, grief, play, & persistence in the face of gargantuan, destructive forces. Queer teenage companions Val & Bluejay chronicle the fall of humanity during the Anthropocene, acting as witnesses and documentarians and finding resilience through love and play. Deep Water positions 2 queer teenagers in the role of history-creation, defining what is worth preserving.
Complimenting selections from Deep Water are excerpts of modern operas and art songs by living composers about the climate crisis, including songs from Portland composer Drew Swatosh’s Dead Fires Anthology and NWO President Lisa Neher’s major song cycles about climate change No One Saves the Earth from Us But Us and Love in a Time of Climate Change (commissioned by Oregon Music Teachers Association for their 2025 Composer of the Year Award). “The performing arts play a crucial role in confronting the climate crisis,” says NWO President Lisa Neher. “Statistics and daily obligations can overwhelm and distract us, but the arts bring people together to pause and feel, and that shared experience drives sustained collective action.”
Jan 18 | Cascade Song Festival
Sunday, January 18, 10 am - 12 pm Pacific
University of Washington
Seattle, WA
Lisa Neher & Dianne Davies perform Paradigm Shift, a lecture recital addressing the climate crisis and social justice through their unique lens as women composer-performers.
University of Washington
Seattle, WA
Lisa Neher & Dianne Davies perform Paradigm Shift, a lecture recital addressing the climate crisis and social justice through their unique lens as women composer-performers.
March 15 | Northwest Vocal Arts: Cordillera
Sunday, March 15, 2026, 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm Pacific
Rose City Park United Methodist Church
5830 Northeast Alameda St.
Portland, OR, 97213
Lisa performs in the alto section of the 16-member core of Northwest Vocal Arts Chamber Choir for their second annual Cordillera: Range of the Americas - Songs of Brazil, featuring Bendita Sabedoria by Heitor Villa-Lobos and guest artists playing Brazilian drums and guitar. Let your spirit soar with Northwest Vocal Arts and the language of vocal music. We invite you to a new season of unforgettable performances that celebrate the beauty, resilience and unity found in song.
Rose City Park United Methodist Church
5830 Northeast Alameda St.
Portland, OR, 97213
Lisa performs in the alto section of the 16-member core of Northwest Vocal Arts Chamber Choir for their second annual Cordillera: Range of the Americas - Songs of Brazil, featuring Bendita Sabedoria by Heitor Villa-Lobos and guest artists playing Brazilian drums and guitar. Let your spirit soar with Northwest Vocal Arts and the language of vocal music. We invite you to a new season of unforgettable performances that celebrate the beauty, resilience and unity found in song.
