MISSION
Omaha Under the Radar is a contemporary performance and live, time-based arts presenter in Omaha, NE that organizes experimental performance events and educational workshops. By curating diverse artistic experiences featuring artists of divergent backgrounds, disciplines, and philosophical inclinations, Omaha Under the Radar invites people to expand their own cultural norms and build new understandings and intuitions about performance work and contemporary life in the 21st century.
We have deep ties with the community of Omaha, and are continuously reflecting on the nature of presenting art in a complicated, and sometimes divided, community. We work tirelessly to create spaces that are welcoming and accessible to all, especially the most disenfranchised and underserved in our community.
We believe that art can be a unifying and uplifting force for good, that experimental art invites us to expand beyond our own assumptions, and that artists are agents for positive change in the world.
ABOUT
Omaha Under the Radar emerged from a desire to support innovative performers, arts educators, and creators living and working in the Midwest, and to connect this community to audiences other performance communities throughout the United States.
Since the first festival, held in 2014, Omaha Under the Radar has presented over 400 artists of divergent backgrounds and disciplines. We work to represent a multiplicity of genres, ideas, and identities through performances, talks, group discussions and educational opportunities.
SOUNDRY, the organization's education program, was launched during the 2015 festival at KANEKO, and has presented yearly, multi-day workshops in composition, instrument building, improvisation, sound art, electronic music, and graphic score creation. The program has now expanded offer programs throughout the year through KANEKO.
In 2017, in partnership with KANEKO, the organization launched Generator Series - a concert series that presents today's most innovative musicians and investigates music’s relationship to our physical world, seeking the connections between sound and architecture, sound and natural landscapes, sound and the human body, and more. Focusing on music by living composers, including sound improvisation and experimental composition, the Generator Series will be an outlet for non-commercial music that asks questions about how we listen, and how we interact with sound in the 21st century. In its first season, the series presented Ensemble Dal Niente, Roomful of Teeth, Aaron Hynds, Hannah Mayer, Stacey Barelos, The Afield, Alejandro Acierto, tbd Dance Collective and Obelus Movement, members of the Omaha Symphony, Quince Ensemble, and more.
Our newest partnerships are with Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago and Film Streams in Omaha, who will both be streaming live events with Omaha Under the Radar performers while in-person events are suspended.
Omaha Under the Radar is a 501(c)3 Nonprofit Organization. To make a tax-deductible donation in support of our programming efforts, visit our SUPPORT page.
About the Organizers
Amanda DeBoer Bartlett
Director
Amanda DeBoer Bartlett, DMA, is a classically trained soprano who enjoys sharing contemporary music with audiences all over the world. She has organized performances and festivals throughout the country, and is thrilled to be presenting Omaha Under the Radar in her hometown. She is a member of Ensemble dal niente, Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, and Hasco Duo. Born and raised in Omaha, NE, Ms. DeBoer moved to Chicago to study at DePaul University where she received a Bachelor of Music. She received a Master’s degree from the University at Buffalo, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Bowling Green State University. Her research focuses on vocal pedagogy and extended vocal techniques. More info at www.amandadeboer.com
Stacey Barelos
Education Director
Pianist Stacey Barelos specializes in the music of the 20th and 21st centuries, particularly the music of living composers. Regarding her first solo release, The Midwest American Piano Project, the American Record Guide said, “Stacey Barelos...plays with authority and poetic nuance, her beautiful tone captured vividly in this warm recording...” Barelos has done extensive research on the piano music of Henry Cowell, much of which can be seen on her website: www.cowellpiano.com. Centaur Records released her second CD, Henry Cowell: Piano Music, in 2012. As a composer, Stacey’s works have been performed across the U.S. and in Europe and Australia. Her recent work ambunction is currently being featured on tour with the New Muse Duo. Upcoming works includes a piece for the woodwind quintet Black Marigold and collaboration with visual artist Marianne Evans Lombe. In all musical endeavors, Stacey works to bridge the gap between musician and audience through engaging programming, humor and most recently, crayons. www.staceybarelos.com
Aubrey Byerly
Development and Grants Manager
Aubrey Byerly is a composer experimenting with allusion and form to create intricate and introspective music. During her time at the University of California San Diego, she studied Music Composition with Chaya Czernowin, Steven Kazuo Takasugi, Philippe Manoury, and Chinary Ung. After which, she went on to study with David Felder and Jeffrey Stadleman at the University at Buffalo, where she completed her PhD in 2012. Her music has been performed by the Lydian String Quartet, the Barton Workshop, Red Fish Blue Fish and read by the Arditti Quartet. She has participated in festivals such as June in Buffalo, Musselman Arts Triathlon, Buffalo Infringement Festival, and Darmstadt Ferienkurse für Neue Musik.