Raindrop New Music

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Raindrop New Music

Composer collective/sheet music store featuring vocal music & beyond by gender diverse PNW composers

Raindrop New Music was founded by (and is currently run by) collaborators Drew Swatosh, Lisa Neher, and Carolyn Quick.

11/19/2025

Raindrop New Music Co-Founders Drew Swatosh, Composer & Vocalist & Lisa Neher, Mezzo-Soprano & Composer both have pieces of music on concerts by Opera Praktikos this Thursday & Friday in NYC!

Wrapping up four-years of operations, OPrak announce Spoon Theory Song Cycle launching NYC's first disability-affirmative opera company into Fifth Fiscal Year with strength.

Spoon Cycle is an hour-long program that interweaves spoken-word from Christine Miserandino’s 2020 essay–The Spoon Theory–with original art songs from living composers/librettists. These musical works highlight the innate emotionality of Miserandino’s powerfully written work that became a watershed moment in Disability culture, transforming the experience of living with chronic illness into an act of creative consciousness.

The art songs presented in Spoon Cycle are a curated selection of works by composers & librettists: Lisa Neher; Jude Duane; Drew Swatosh; Nina Shih; Spencer Edgers; Elizabeth Howell; Jaquay Smith; and Ethan Resnik. They will be performed by a piano trio lead by Kyle Glasgow (Music Director/clarinet), Mercedes Yvonne Lysacker (cello) and Sunny Zhai (piano) with singers, Brian Alvarado (baritone), and Katharine Li (soprano) and featuring spoken-word performance artist, Eman Rimawi-Doster.

Thursday November 20 at 3:00pm - take a midday break and enjoy an hour of music and Spoon Theory, or Friday November 21 at 6:30pm - a great way to wrap up the work week and prep for the weekend ahead at Opera America | National Opera Center at 330 7th Ave in midtown Manhattan on the 7th floor. The venue is fully accessible and ADA compliant.

Buy tickets here https://buytickets.at/operapraktikosinc
This program is also available as a live-stream broadcast on both performance days.

11/05/2025

Last on our re-introductions: Lisa Neher!

Who?
Described as a “supremely talented,” “visionary composer” (Willamette Week), and author of “liquid, impressionist piano writing and fluent melding” of voices (New York Classical Review), Dr. Lisa Neher’s compositions are inspired by the climate crisis, the tender love of family and friends, and the eerie mystery of deep ocean life.

What have you been working on?
Love in a Time of Climate Change, a 20-minute song cycle about the climate crisis, setting poetry by Craig Santos Perez, commissioned by the Oregon Music Teachers Association for their Composer of the Year award.

Fun fact…
Lisa loves board games and recently treated herself to the Oceania expansion of one of her favorite games, Wingspan!

The 2nd photo in this post is from Lisa's recent trip to Ireland. Fun fact: The River Shannon is the longest river in Ireland and by legend was carved by the Oilliphéist, which is a great sea-serpent-like creature. This inspired a piano piece she wrote for students.

11/03/2025

Continuing with our re-introductions, meet Carolyn Quick!

Who?
With a “deft touch at crafting melodies and textures” (Oregon ArtsWatch), Portland composer-Soprano Carolyn Quick (she/her) writes “deeply meaningful,” music about our fundamental, shared human experiences, making a “huge impact on both singers and audiences” (Dr. Justin Smith) and "establishing herself as one of the most important voices in our community" (Makrokosmos Project 7).

What have you been working on?
Seattle Opera Jane Lang Davis Creation Lab (a program which co-founder Drew is an alum of). For this program, she crafted a 20-minute opera with librettist Raya Tuffaha, putting treble voices at the center of the narrative, which premiered in June alongside 3 other newly commissioned operas.

Fun fact…
Carolyn is a huge history nerd and loves all things archaeology! Last Summer while traveling to Greece on a choir tour, she got to finally see one of the archaeological finds she’s only read about for so long - Mycenae! Bucket list item - check.

11/01/2025

As the 2025-2026 concert season is already in full swing, we think some re-introductions are in order!

First up, meet@Drew Swatosh, Composer & Vocalist!
(they/them):

Who?
Drew Swatosh (they/them) is a Portland, OR-based composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist. “A programmatic composer at heart, stemming from their background in an integrated arts education” (Charles Rose, Oregon ArtsWatch), Drew writes eclectic music described as “music of naked protest and yet subtle beauty” (Lorin Wilkerson, Oregon ArtsWatch) as a means to process the world around them.

What have you been working in?
Incorporating libretto edits from a workshop with theater artist Melory Mirashrafi for their opera with Brian Dang, If Only I Could Give You the Sun.

Fun Fact...
When Drew is not composing music, they enjoy watching women soccer, regular attending home matches for Portland Thorns FC

10/12/2025

Congratulations to Raindrop New Music cofounder on a wonderful performance of her piece "she conjures" today with the Iowa Composers Forum!

Libretto by , performed by & !

08/31/2025

Happy Wedding Day to our lovely co-founder, ! 💜

We (Drew & Lisa) are so happy for you and to take this next step in your lives!

It has been wonderful to watch your relationship flourish over the past few years and we wish you a lifetime of happiness!

📸:

07/29/2025

Happy Birthday to our lovely co-founder Lisa Neher (sher/her)! 🥳

We - Drew (they/them) and Carolyn (she/her) love how you continually lift up others around you. You are an amazing friend and colleague, and we appreciate the deep community of support we have fostered with each other through . Congratulations on the 1st anniversary of ! It is amazing to see the impact that telling relevant stories through the beautiful operas and art songs by living composers has had on the audiences you’ve reached so far.

We love you and hope you have a fabulous day, and look forward to your future artistic endeavors and the next chapter of Raindrop New Music!

Photo credit: Antonia Rose Photo

06/21/2025

Tomorrow! Join for a concert and artist talk balk including music of Raindrop cofounder !

06/11/2025

This weekend, Seattle Opera premieres Carolyn Quick's new opera with librettist Raya Tuffaha: The Meeting House!

Fifteen years after the Salem Witch Trials, Temperance returns to the meeting house to grieve the loss of her childhood best friend. Upon entering, she's surprised to find her twelve-year-old self sitting in the pews, illuminated by moonlight. The confession begins.

Catch Carolyn's opera and three additional new works at performances of Seattle Opera's Creation Lab!
June 12 (7:30 pm) and June 13 (2:00 pm) at Tagney Jones Hall in Seattle!

04/28/2025

Happy Birthday to our co-founder Drew Swatosh, Composer & Vocalist!

We (Lisa & Carolyn) love Drew's warm heart and vulnerability, their enthusiastic support for their friends, and their playful, creative spirit. Happy Birthday, Drew!

Photo credit: Antonia Rose Photography

04/06/2025

Happy Birthday to our co-founder, Carolyn Quick! 🥳 We (Drew and Lisa) love the supportive community we have built together as Raindrop New Music. Your feistiness and passion continue to shine through in compositional voice, letting others inside the amazing human that we have the privilege of knowing. In this past year, we’ve watched you step outside your comfort zone and work on projects that will bring the beautiful music you compose to a broader audience. We love you and hope you have a fabulous day, and look forward to your future artistic endeavors!

📸: Antonia Rose Photo

03/14/2025

OUT NOW! Lindsey Rae Johnson and Sequoia Sounds performing Drew Swatosh's A Poem of Gratitude (text by Caroline Erdmann) performed during our November 2023 Recital Series (link in bio)!

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Portland, OR

Website

https://linktr.ee/raindropnewmus

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