OperaRox Productions has announced its 2017-2018 season.

After a sold out run of the NYC Premiere of “Sweets by Kate” at the historic Stonewall Inn and dedicating its season to LGBT, OperaRox Productions hopes to reduce the stigma that surrounds mental illness by illuminating the voices of all who may find themselves suffering.

The season will open with a celebratory concert during National Opera Week and an opera rave in the spring.

The season will culminate with the World Premiere of the newly commissioned opera, “Ghost Variations” by Tony Manfredonia. “Ghost Variations” will re-imagine the real story of the Schumanns and their closest friend, Johannes Brahms, in the final years of Robert’s life. This World Premiere, commissioned by OperaRox Productions, is Tony Manfredonia’s first full-length opera.

Manfredonia is a composer and orchestrator living in Petoskey, MI, providing a multi-layered and sensory experience through expressive, colorful orchestration and warm melodies. With performances and readings from chamber ensembles and orchestras, such as Apollo Chamber Players and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Manfredonia’s music has been played across the nation and is now published through MusicSpoke.

Librettist Kim Feltkamp is a performer, producer, and writer based in Brooklyn, NY. Feltkamp is one of the co-founders of OperaRox Productions in 2015 and is best known for her recent portrayal of Elizabeth in Griffin Candey’s “Sweets by Kate.” The mezzo has studied under esteemed mentors Dawn Upshaw (M.M. Bard College Conservatory of Music), Drew Minter (Baroque gesture, Queens College), Edda Moser (Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria), and the late diction guru, Nico Castel (Delaware Valley Opera). Feltkamp’s poetry was most recently published in AADOREE literary magazine’s Summer 2017 issue and her short story, “In Absentia,” won the 1000 words Flash Fiction Day contest in 2012.