Collaborator Profiles
Bob Beverage, Performer, Writer, Producer
Bob Beverage is a veteran performer, writer, and producer. His works include musicals such as Christmas of Swing and non-musical plays on the life of Sinclair Lewis. He is affiliated with Nautilus Music-Theater, History Theater, and Illusion Theater. Bob is co-executive producer of the documentary film New American Opera: Evolution and Revolution.
Kelly Krebs, Composer
Whether it’s musical theater, art song, or opera, Kelly Krebs is a Minnesota-based composer who loves telling stories through music. After a 20-year creative hiatus, Krebs returned to composing in 2015. He was selected as a composer for the MN Song Program at the 2017 Source Song Festival where he worked with Libby Larsen. In 2018, he was part of the Nautilus Composer-Librettist Studio with Ben Krywosz. He’s also been a part of the 2019 Art Song Lab in Vancouver, B.C. and was chosen as one of four composers for the 2019-20 Vocal Essence Re-Mix Composer Mentorship Program. He holds a B.A. in Music and Speech Communication from the University of Minnesota-Morris and pursued graduate studies in composition at the University of Louisville.
Eric Morris, Director and Dramaturg
Eric Morris is an actor and director based in the Twin Cities. Most recently, Eric performed in Guys & Dolls at the Guthrie Theater and The Bridges of Madison County at Artistry Theater. Other Twin Cities collaborators: Theater Latte Da, History Theater, Mill City Summer Opera, Nautilus Music-Theater, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, and Second Fiddle Productions. Regional collaborators: Dayton Opera, The Barn Theatre, Beef & Boards, Gallery Players, and the Heritage Theatre Festival. Eric is the Director of Production at the Old Log Theatre in Excelsior, Minnesota, the oldest professional theater in the Northwest United States, where he most recently directly the critically acclaimed production of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder. Other Old Log directing credits include Ghost: The Musical, Lend Me a Tenor, Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical, The Dixie Swim Club, How I Became a Pirate, Winnie-the-Pooh, and The Emperor’s New Clothes. Eric holds a BFA in Musical Theater from Ithaca College.
A Young Leader Strikes Sparks at Minnesota’s Venerable Old Log Theatre, Minneapolis StarTribune
Peter Rosen, Documentary Filmmaker and Producer
Peter Rosen has produced and directed over 100 full-length films and television programs which have been distributed world-wide and have won awards at all the major film festivals. Many of his films relate to classical music, opera, and modern art. He has worked directly with some of the most important figures in the performing arts such as Leonard Bernstein, Yo-Yo Ma, Beverly Sills, Stephen Sondheim, Midori, Martha Graham, Placido Domingo and Van Cliburn.
Sonja Thompson, Music Director
Sonja Thompson is an accomplished educator, musician, conductor, coach and performer. For many years she was Assistant Professor of Music and College Organist at Augsburg University and Music Associate at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis. Sonja’s recent performing engagements include the Colonial Chamber Music Series, the Lakes Area Music Festival, Schubert Club, Upper Midwest Flute Association, National Flute Association, Theater Latte Da, Nautilus Music Theater, and Open Eye Figure Theater. She has worked with Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion, Florida Grand Opera, the Oregon Festival of American Music, Minnesota Opera, and the Minnesota Orchestra, and has enjoyed long term musical collaborations with soprano Maria Jette, tenor Vern Sutton, tenor Dennis Peterson, singer-actors Jennifer Baldwin Peden, Gary Briggle and Bradley Greenwald, organist/pianist/conductor Philip Brunelle, and pianist Karen Becker (New York). Notable collaborations in developing new work have included New Dramatists in New York City; stage directors Wesley Balk, Ben Krywosz of Nautilus Music Theater, and Cynthia Stokes of San Diego CITY Opera; choreographer Rosanna Gamson (Los Angeles); and composers David Evan Thomas, Edie Hill and Jocelyn Hagen. Sonja received her Master of Music in Accompanying from The Juilliard School where she studied with Margo Garrett, and her Bachelor of Music in Theory & Composition from the University of Minnesota where she studied composition with Paul Fetler and organ with Heinrich Fleischer.
Joseph Turrin, Composer
Joseph Turrin is a greatly valued contributor to contemporary American musical life thanks to his wide-ranging activities as a composer, orchestrator, conductor, pianist, and teacher. He studied composition at the Eastman School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music and has pursued a career that has always been multifaceted. As a composer, he has produced work in many genres, including Hemispheres, commissioned for Kurt Masur’s final concern with the New York Philharmonic. Recent works include And Crimson Roses Once Again Be Fair, a cantata based on poetry from WWI, and That Thing which Makes the Vastness Bearable, a collaboration with Ann Druyan. He collaborated with David Smith on Lullaby for Vaska, based on the Ukraine refugee crisis, a choral piece performed at the Concert for Peace at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City on New Year’s Eve 2022. A link to a video of that performance is here.
“I have always liked composers who are reflecting upon the musical sound of their country. Joseph Turrin does it in a very convincing way. I have taken great delight from getting to know his scores, which I have conducted in New York, in Europe, and in Asia.” —Kurt Masur