CATHARSIS
ARTS
COLLECTIVE
ADMIN TEAM
Melaina Mills
Founder, Producer, Vocalist
CAC founder Melaina Mills is a New York City-based singer, actor, teacher, and producer with a passion for storytelling through song. In 2025, she founded Catharsis Arts Collective, a company dedicated to amplifying artists’ voices and making self-production more accessible. Melaina's commitment to supporting fellow artists is reflected in her work both on stage and behind the scenes, from performing to production management to fundraising.
Hannah Penzner
Producer, Administrator, Vocalist
Hannah is a singer, teacher, administrator, and web designer living in New York City. She has sung with ensembles such as Seraphic Fire, Conspirare, the Spoleto Festival Chorus, Spire Chamber Ensemble, the Trinity Choir, and the Fifth Avenue Choir at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. Hannah has been a featured soloist with Princeton Pro Musica, the Arizona Philharmonic, and the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. In addition to her professional choral career, she is a social media manager and web designer for artists and arts organizations.
ARTISTS
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Derrick Goff
Music Director, i Capuleti
Derrick Goff, vocal coach and pianist, is an alumnus of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and returned to the MET Music Staff in subsequent seasons. He has enjoyed many years of collaboration at Teatro Nuovo, a continuation of the young artist program of Bel Canto at Caramoor, where he serves as Associate Artistic Director and is resident as coach, chorus master, and Italian teacher.
Claire Choquette
Stage Director, i Capuleti
Award-winning stage director Claire Choquette’s concept for Salome won OPERA America’s Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Prize in 2022. She is also the 2025–2026 recipient of the National Opera Association’s Joelyn Wakefield-Wright Stage Director Fellowship, awarded to an emerging director of exceptional promise. Her work spans the traditional canon and contemporary opera, with a particular interest in modern work that expands the possibilities of opera through collaboration with other artistic mediums.