Some Days the Sky is Heavy is a new chamber operetta by Omaha composer Stacey Barelos about what happens when ordinary life is interrupted by chronic illness. Moving through doctors’ offices, prescriptions, phone calls, diagnosis, and the process of adapting to a changed sense of self, the work finds humor and absurdity alongside uncertainty and loss. Drawn in part from interviews with people living with autoimmune disease, the operetta combines soprano voice with flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and percussion, moving between lyrical, theatrical, and experimental sound worlds. Featuring soprano Karina Brazas and an ensemble of area musicians, Some Days the Sky is Heavy offers an intimate, sometimes funny look at the strange business of living with illness.

Join Stacey Barelos for a conversation about the creation of Some Days the Sky is Heavy, then stay for the performance.

6:30-7 In Conversation with Stacey Barelos

7-7:30 Cash Bar

7:30-8:15 Performance - Some Days The Sky Is Heavy

ADMISSIONS:

Members & Students

$15 ticket - show only

$25 ticket - In Conversation & show ticket

General Admission:

$20 ticket - show only

$30 ticket - In Conversation & show ticket

Cash bar

ARTIST BIOS

STACEY BARELOS, composer/music director
Stacey Barelos is an Omaha-based composer, sound artist, pianist, and educator whose music explores unconventional instruments, found objects, experimental sound, and the theatrical possibilities of performance. Her compositions move between carefully constructed notation, improvisation, and interdisciplinary collaboration, often incorporating unexpected sounds and objects into musical environments. Her music has been performed and recorded nationally and internationally, with recordings on Albany Records, Centaur Records, and Blue Griffin. Her 2023 album Toy, Toy, Toy explores the expressive possibilities of toy piano and other unconventional sound sources. Her recent collaboration with composer and sound artist Jay Kreimer, Hand Drawn Map, brings together their shared interest in experimental sound and improvisation. Barelos is the founder and director of Soundry, an Omaha-based experimental music workshop focused on creative listening, improvisation, instrument building, and experimental performance. Some Days the Sky is Heavy is her first chamber operetta.

KARINA BRAZAS, soprano

Soprano Karina Brazas, described as “sumptuous and soaring” (Omaha World-Herald), has built a career on repertoire ranging from the Baroque to the 21st century. This season she will be featured as the soprano soloist in Poulenc’s Gloria with Resonance, and will join the Omaha Chamber Music Society and Salt Creek Song Festival for concerts featuring works by Faurè, Hubert Parry, and 21st century composers. Recently, she was seen as the second soprano soloist for Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Omaha Symphony, Miss Hedgehog in Fantastic Mr. Fox with Opera Omaha, and Papagena from Mozart’s Magic Flute with the Omaha Symphony in their gala honoring Jun and Rene Kaneko. Prior concert highlights include performing as the soprano soloist in Mozart’s C Minor Mass, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, Handel’s Messiah, and the Faurè Requiem. Operatic highlights include performances as Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Young Alyce in Glory Denied, both with Union Avenue Opera and Pamina in The Magic Flute with Shreveport Opera. Ms. Brazas made her professional debut as Kitty Hart in Dead Man Walking with Central City Opera, where she also sang as Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro. Karina spent the first 12 years of her life as an Army Brat, before settling in Washington state. She lives in Omaha, and enjoys reading, baking, and being with her family.

SERENA REUTEN, conductor

Serena Reuten is a German-Canadian conductor currently serving as the Associate Conductor of the Omaha Symphony. Over the last year she has led over 50 performances for over 15,000 students and audience members across a range of repertoire, including Masterworks, Community, Family, and education concerts such as Carnegie Hall’s Link Up series. Between 2024-2026 she also joins the third cohort of the Orchestre Métropolitain’s Orchestral Conducting Academy mentorship program under the guidance of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In 2025, she was selected to join the next cohort of Women in Musical Leadership through Tapestry Opera. Recent activities include participating in the 2025 Fiskars Conducting Academy lead by the LEAD! Foundation in Finland, 2025 Tanglewood Conducting Seminar, and the 2024 Järvi Conducting Academy in Pärnu, Estonia. She has served as guest assistant conductor for the Toronto Symphony and National Arts Centre Orchestra, as well as guest conductor with the Winnipeg Symphony during their annual Winnipeg New Music Festival. In 2023, she was the inaugural recipient of the Bernhard Gueller Conducting Fellowship with Symphony Nova Scotia as well as one of CBC’s 30 under 30 Classical Musicians. Over the past few summers she has also attended several international conducting masterclasses, studying under such conductors as Alexander Shelley, Cristian Măcelaru, and Jukka-Pekka Saraste. Serena completed her graduate studies in orchestral conducting at the Eastman School of Music with Neil Varon. She holds degrees in flute performance from the University of Ottawa and University of Montreal, and in her spare time enjoys learning languages, gardening, and dancing.

KITTY BOESE. flute
A licensed FINRA series 6 registered representative, Madame Kitty Boese has been described many ways:"Kitty wears her personality on her sleeves, which she often has made”( Dr. Margaret Gregory) ,“a lady of refined taste and maturity well beyond her years, but don’t let that fool you. She’s still a Gen Z doll...”(master piccolo maker Adam Pettry), and “a sock monkey…connoisseur”(Carissa Drier). Often considered a true renaissance woman, Mme. Boese spends her spare time brewing her own fabric dyes, keeping diverse orchid cultivars, knitting, crocheting, designing gowns, and haunting antique malls. She has studied flute with Dr. Margaret Gregory, Dr. Rebecca Meador (Washburn University), Dr. Christie Beard (University of Nebraska-Omaha), and Maria Harding (Omaha Symphony). A proud trans woman, she currently studies operatic singing with Laura Petry and enjoys spoiling her brown tabby cat (Adora) and her white song canary (Lord Rochefort, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, 1st Earl of Ormand).

DAYTON LINHARDT, clarinet
Dayton Linhardt is a clarinetist from Gretna, Nebraska. He attended the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he studied with Dr. Diane Barger, earning his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees. During his time as a student and after graduating, Dayton has performed throughout the Midwest in solo, chamber music, and orchestral/wind band settings.

KITTY CAMERO, percussion

Kitty Camero is a local percussionist and music educator based out of Omaha,Nebraska. She received her master’s degree in music performance in 2025 from the University of Nebraska, Omaha. Before that, she studied at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, completing her Bachelor’s degree in music performance in 2023. In her time at these institutions, Kitty performed in a vast number of different ensembles and collaborated with her classmates and professors often. Kitty is currently teaching with Spark Indoor Percussion as a front ensemble technician, and with Millard South High School as their head percussion Instructor.

MARY PERKINSON, violin
Violinist, educator, and citizen musician Mary Perkinson, D.M.A., began her violin studies in the Philadelphia public schools at age 5. She has appeared as a visiting artist and lecturer across Europe, Asia, South America, and 37 U.S. states, and performs regularly with the Omaha Symphony, Omaha Chamber Music Society, and Madison Bach Musicians. Recently promoted to Full Professor of Violin and String Education at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, she has secured more than $350,000 in funding to support artistic collaborations, Music & Medicine initiatives, and student learning. Dr. Perkinson holds degrees from Boston University, the Boston Conservatory, and the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

TREV PETERSEN, cello

Trev Petersen began playing the cello at the age of 10 in her elementary school’s strings program. After a few years she began private study at the Omaha Conservatory of Music and fell in love with the instrument. In 2022, she received her Bachelor’s of Music in Cello Performance from the University of Nebraska-Omaha. In 2017, as a college freshman, Trev won her first orchestra position. She now works as a full time symphony musician, holding contracts with the Omaha Symphony, Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra, Sioux City Symphony Orchestra, and South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, and is active around the Omaha metro. When she's not playing cello, Trev enjoys having an iced latte, competing in Smash Bros. tournaments, and listening to The Beach Boys.

Some Days the Sky is Heavy

A New Chamber Operetta by Stacey Barelos