HISTORY

This is Eric Stern, founder of  Portland’s Hungry Opera Machine.  Hungry Opera Machine is my brain-child and came out of the exciting process that lead to the premiere of my opera Queen of Knives in May of 2010.  What impressed me was how the Portland artistic community came together to produce an opera that advanced the genre.

Almost ten years before Queen of Knives I had started Vagabond Opera a ground-breaking ensemble that distilled the operatic voice and extended the operatic tradition.

But I wanted to do something further and more along the lines of Queen of Knives. I wanted to add narrative and not be locked into having  the same cast. I was very inspired by working with the opera principals Scot Crandal,  Catherine Olson, and Ashia Grzesik as well as  the opera’s director, Noah Mickens and hope to continue to work with them, the whole cast and the larger NW community in this exciting endeavor.

In 2012 I had the good fortune to meet Annie Rosen. As we began working together I realized that I had found a true and dedicated partner for my crimes of high and low art. Since then Annie has joined my team of one here at HOM and now we work in partnership! Together we explore the intersection of story and song, Opera and Commedia Dell ‘Arte, and build community around our work.