Founders

Elyse Anne Kakacek, Co-Artist Director, Co-Founder

American soprano Elyse Anne Kakacek is making her mark with her “unexpectedly deep and honey-colored soprano” (Parterre Box) in opera, oratorio and contemporary music. She has been acclaimed as a “stand out performer” (Opera News) with “delicious sultriness of voice (and) smoldering lyricism” (Operawire). Ms. Kakacek has sung lead roles for multiple world premieres including her venue debut at National Sawdust in Brooklyn creating all seven soprano roles for Experiments in Opera’s premiere of And Here We Are. She was described as “captivating as she floated her voice into the heavens with a feathery tone” (Operawire) in her creation of the title role of Princess Maleine at La Mama Experimental Theatre in NYC. She has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, David A Koch Promenade at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space and the Preston Bradley Hall. Equally in love with traditional repertoire, other career highlights include: Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, Dafne in L’Euridice, Micaela in Carmen, Nedda in I Pagliacci, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Despina in Così fan Tutte, Norina in Don Pasquale, Musetta in La Bohème, Flora in The Turn of the Screw, Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia, Clorinda in La Cenerentola and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte. Elyse has recently released two albums of art song which can be found on all downloadable platforms.

Ryan Rivard, Co-Artist Director, Co-Founder

Ryan Rivard is a filmmaker originally from the “Live Free or Die” state.

His short films have screened at the Coney Island Film Festival, Lake Placid Film Forum, and the Museum of the Moving Image.

He is currently the Producer at Reel Works, a non-profit in Brooklyn that mentors, inspires and empowers underserved NYC youth to share their stories through filmmaking. Ryan runs the in-house production company Reel Works Productions, a workforce training program that prepares the next generation of media makers for careers in the production industry.

With Reel Works, he has produced projects for Hasbro, Samsung, Bank of America, VH1, American Express, and other non-profits. He also worked on two feature films: a narrative 72 Hours: A Brooklyn Love Story? (LA Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival, Urbanworld) and the documentary National Park Diaries.

Ryan is in post-production on a narrative short film b l u s h, a dark fantasy about a fit model who develops a distorted view of her body and the world around her.