Opera on Tap will present “The Singing Cabinet of Mathilde LeBeau” on March 8, 2026.

The showcase, set to take the stage at the Pen and Brush Gallery in New York, centers on an automaton built in the likeness of Mathilde LeBeau — a celebrated opera singer who vanished in 1891 — and framed as an artifact in the collection of the fictional Institute for Parapsychological Research. LeBeau’s husband, the invented Phineas Davies Hood, is described as an American inventor, engineer, and occultist who constructed the cabinet. The automaton is said to replicate its subject exactly, including her voice.

Soprano Kaileigh Riess and actress Carla Kissane headline the performance.

The event takes place during the opening weekend of the “Every Woman Biennial” at the gallery at 29 E. 22nd Street and marks the first of six planned immersive installations that together constitute a complete opera, “The Singing Cabinets,” co-created by composer Kamala Sankaram and director Jerre Dye.

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