THE GREAT SOVIET BUCKETTHE GREAT SOVIET BUCKET

Described by LA times as "dangerous and seductive", Timur (Creator) creates "romantic, smashing, noisy" (LA Weekly) songs for a variety of eclectic projects. Known for theatrical flair and dynamic live performances, the band blurs the lines between many styles. Equally at home in clubs as well as theatrical venues, Timur and the Dime Museum performed at the ALOUD series; America's Got Talent with Kristian Hoffman; Joe's Pub in NYC; World Café in Philadelphia; Hotel Cafe in LA; REDCAT Gala with Jack featured in LA Weekly's BEST OF LA PEOPLE ISSUE 2011, the band made its NYC debut in 2013 as part of the PROTOTYPE festival. The band has closely collaborated with Beth Morrison Projects on COLLAPSE, a glam-rock Requiem by Daniel Corral with fashion designer Victor Wilde and video artist Jesse Gilbert. Premiered at REDCAT Theater in 2014, the show toured to Miami Light Project, Operadagen Rotterdam and BAM 2015 Next Wave Festival. Upcoming new projects: Black Lodge by David T. Little and Nueva Canción: Songs of Protests and Resistance.

theoperaoftimur.com

Three-time Emmy® and Annie Award nominated Peruvian-American editor, director and writer Sandra Bambarén Powers is currently the lead editor of Disney’s critically acclaimed series “Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.” A graduate of the MFA Film Directing program at California Institute of the Arts and BFA from Massachusetts College of Art, Sandra has contributed her creative expertise to iconic animated series such as Nickelodeon’s "Legend of Korra" and Disney’s "Elena of Avalor." Her short film "Still Life After Death" premiered at the Sharjah Film Festival in 2021 and is now available for streaming on Amazon Prime. Her debut short, "Autumn," was distributed by Ouat Media and screened at many prominent festivals including Festival Images Contre Nature (France), Wimbledon Shorts Film Festival (England) and EXiS Film Festival (South Korea). In 2023, Sandra art directed the Grammy®-nominated opera film "Black Lodge" for Opera Philadelphia and made her stage directorial debut with "The Great Soviet Bucket," produced by Beth Morrison Projects and funded by the National Performance Network for Miami Light Project. She also conceived and directed "BARDO," an immersive theatrical experience hailed by the LA Times as “full of wonder” produced by Beth Morrison Projects with CAP UCLA. Showcasing her distinctive vision across mediums, Sandra has also directed over fifteen music videos for many bands, including Grammy®-nominated DeVotchKa and Timur and the Dime Museum.

sandrapowers.com

Christopher Kuhl is a lighting, scenic, and installation designer for new performance, theatre, dance and opera. Recent work includes: Dog Days (Prototype Festival, REDCAT, LA Opera); The Object Lesson (BAM, Edinburgh Festival, Sydney Festival); The Source (BAM); The Institute of Memory (The Public, T:BA Festival); Straight White Men (Young Jean Lee’s Theatre Company, The Public Theatre, Kaai Theater, Centre Pompidou), The Elephant Room (St. Ann’s Warehouse); ABACUS (Early Morning Opera, BAM, Sundance Film Festival, EMPAC); Quartier Libres with Nadia Beugré (New York Live Arts, Walker ArtCenter); Cipher with Samita Sinha (The Kitchen); He was also the Production Manger and Lighting Director for Ralph Lemon’s How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere? He has also had the pleasure of working and making art at the The Chocolate Factory, Fusebox Festival, On the Boards, San Fransisco Symphony, Jacob’s Pillow, Carnegie Hall, Santa Fe Opera, Beijing Music Festival, Queer Zagreb, MAC France, Santiago a Mil Chile, and the Holland Festival. He has received two Ovation awards and a Sherwood, Drammy, Horton, award. He also received a 2014 and 2015 Bessie award. He is originally from New Mexico, a graduate of CalArts, and an associate artist of Hand2Mouth Theatre.

Sindy Butz is a German-born interdisciplinary visual and performance artist, Butoh dancer, and art fabricator living and working in New York City. Butz's art practice spans the disciplines of performance art, performance-based photography/ video art, costume design, multi-media installation, dance, and contemporary ceramics. Renowned for her research-driven practice, she explores themes of slow time perception, hyper-controlled micro-movement, rituals and altered states of consciousness, creating works that challenge and captivate audiences globally. A principal dancer with the Vangeline Theater since 2010, Butz has trained extensively in Japanese Butoh under masters such as Yoshito Ohno, Natsu Nakajima, and Semimaru of Sankai Juku. She has been a faculty member of the New York Butoh Institute since 2016 and is a sought-after educator, teaching at universities, dance schools, and art institutions across North America and Europe. Her immersive installations and performances have been showcased at prestigious venues, including the Brooklyn Museum, QueensMuseum, New Museum, Dixon Place, Wave Hill, Asian American Art Alliance, and Princeton University. Sindy created the sculptural desert and dreamy forest costumes for the Grammy-nominated opera Black Lodge, produced by Beth Morrison Projects and co-commissioned by Opera Philadelphia. The Marina Abramovic Institute has featured her solo works, Hearth and Homage to Hildegard of Bingen, further cementing her reputation as a pioneering artist. Butz holds degrees in Visual Arts (AKI Enschede) and Art Science (University of the Arts Berlin) and was a DAAD-funded doctoral fellow at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her groundbreaking work bridges the realms of art, movement, and introspection, positioning her as a leading figure in contemporary performance art.

Rachel Burson has been building puppets since 2015. She got her start in theatre as a stage manager and discovered her love of puppetry at a stage management internship after college. Rachel is primarily a self-taught builder. She has built puppets for film, television, theatre, and immersive theatre projects, working for companies like The Jim Henson Creature Shop and Swazzle. She built the puppet Waffles for Netflix’s Waffles + Mochi with Michelle Obama, and is part of the puppetry team for Nickelodeon’s The Barbarian and the Troll and Discovery+’s Duff’s Happy Fun Bake Time with The Jim Henson Company, The B Street Theatre’s production of Winnie the Pooh, Womp & Co, LittleBig Awesome, My Friend T, and the NBA 2023 Christmas commercial and more.

Rachel is President of the Los Angeles Guild of Puppetry. She also owns her own personal puppetry business, rachelmadestudio.

Matt Podd is a pianist, composer, arranger, and music director based in Brooklyn, NY. He holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Ithaca College. As a pianist Matt specializes in jazz, gospel, pop, musical theatre, and choral accompaniment. He has appeared on stage with some of New York City's finest musicians at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Town Hall, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Symphony Space, and the 92nd Street Y.

He has worked on stage and behind the scenes as an arranger and orchestrator for such world-class acts as the Barbra Streisand, Dave Matthews, Darlene Love, the Boston Pops, New York Pops, Philadelphia Pops, Toronto Pops, the National Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Steve Van Zandt, Little Big Town, Reneé Fleming, Joshua Bell, Kurt Elling, Jason Robert Brown, Gregory Porter, Capathia Jenkins, Montego Glover, Sy Smith, Darren Criss, Stephanie J. Block, Brian D'arcy James, the Young People's Chorus of NYC, Time for Three, SHEL, Jake Shimabukuro, Stephen Kellogg, Milton Delug, and many other artists, choirs, and ensembles.

His arrangements have been heard across America and throughout the world including performances at Carnegie Hall, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Symphony Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, P.B.S. the White House, Caramoor Music Festival, the 92nd Street Y, Symphony Space, and beyond.

Yvette Cornelia Holzwarth is a versatile artist with extensive experience in a wide range of genres. Venturing beyond her Western classical roots, she embraces a diverse musical palette that includes Eastern European folk, Arabic, Norwegian hard anger fiddle, Americana, jazz, and popular music. As a violinist, Yvette enjoys working with an impressive array of artists — including Kamasi Washington, Gaby Moreno, Van Dyke Parks, Ariana Grande, OneRepublic, and more. Her musical journey has taken her on extensive tours in Eastern Europe, performing as a duo with renowned guitarist Miroslav Tadić. Their critically acclaimed debut record, Luka, was released on Croatia Records in 2021. A collaborator at heart, Yvette is also a founding member of the non-traditional performer-composer collective Desert Quill Quartet and the cross-cultural chamber group Bridge to Everywhere. Currently based in Los Angeles, she has contributed to numerous film and television scores (Disney, FOX, NBC) both on and off camera. She is widely sought for her ability to compose, arrange, and improvise string parts on the spot. Operating under the moniker Yvette Cornelia, she releases original music, including her debut EP "Open It Up" (2013) and the full-length album "What Lies Ahead" (2018). The latter, featuring her nine-piece ensemble, explores the intersections of chamber music, folk, and experimental rock.

Yvette is a frequent collaborator with the innovative theater company Four Larks, showcasing her unique talents as both a vocalist and violinist. Notable performances include an immersive exploration of the Greek underworld in katabasis at the Getty Villa in 2019 and a "thrillingly realized" adaptation of Shelley's Frankenstein at The Wallis Center in 2020. Raised in Northern California, Yvette is currently based in Los Angeles, California. She holds a Bachelor’s from UCLA and an MFA in Performance and Composition from the California Institute of the Arts. She is currently on music faculty at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Los Angeles.