Shira Renee Thomas is the General & Artistic Director of Valley Opera & Performing Arts (VOPA), currently in its 19th season. VOPA presents performances of everything from fully-staged opera and musical theater works with orchestra, to laid back concerts of jazz standards and even classic rock with its band, VOPA Rocks. Through the company’s outreach, education, and community service program, VOPA provides entertainment to underserved and economically or otherwise disadvantaged communities such as retirement communities, charities, homeless shelters, schools, and more. VOPA has helped launch the careers of many singers and instrumentalists who’ve gone on to perform in organizations such as English National Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, the Academy Awards, and the Hollywood Bowl, to name a few. 

As a singer herself, Shira has performed all over the world and with some of the biggest stars in opera, including Metropolitan Opera stars, Quinn Kelsey, Christian Van Horn, and Ana Maria Martinez. Among the numerous awards earned by her, Shira won 1st prize in the prestigious Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod Vocal Solo Competition in North Wales, which has hosted such legendary opera singers as Luciano Pavarotti and Bryn Terfel in past years. Having suffered from debilitating recurrent Depression for 25 years, Shira has become an advocate for mental health, and has been interviewed on the subject by National Geographic and KTTV News. She has also written articles for HuffPost and Classical Singer Magazine, and is frequently invited to attend various events and conferences to tell her story of overcoming Depression. Shira is grateful to the staff at Ketamine Clinics Los Angeles for helping her to finally beat the illness.
www.VOPArts.org   www.shira-renee-thomas.com   www.shirareneethomas.wordpress.com

Dylan F. Thomas is in-demand as a Stage Director, Acting Coach, and Performer. Last year, he was invited to be Guest Lecturer and Stage Director at Yale University, where he staged the Opera Scenes and taught his unique acting method, The Dressler Technique, in “Acting for Opera”. This Spring, Dylan looks forward to directing  a double bill of operas at his alma mater, Cal State University, Northridge. Dylan acts as Opera Program Manager for the GRAMMY-winning National Children’s Chorus’s youth opera program, National Youth Opera Academy, where he teaches acting and prop-making, and co-directs the fully staged operas during the summer opera camp. Dylan is Co-Founder and Principal Stage Director of Valley Opera & Performing Arts (VOPA), where he has directed many operas, musicals, and other events over the past 19 years.

As a singer/actor himself, Dylan has performed all over the world in many different musical genres, including musical theater, opera, jazz, pop, and classic rock. He spent 11 months performing in several different productions for Universal Studios in Osaka, Japan, singing for tens of thousands of people every day. At Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre, he had the honor of performing for legendary musical theater lyricist and songwriter Sheldon Harnick in two of Harnick’s musicals: the rarely seen Rex, as well as Fiddler on the Roof. 

As a passionate educator, Dylan maintains a private acting studio, offering individual, small group, and large group classes for performers in all genres of theater, including musical theater, opera, straight theater, and tv/film. Acting student Eden Kontesz says that Dylan’s technique is “unique, different, and highly effective,” and Grammy-nominated composer Sharon Farber comments that he “offers a new perspective that is truly profound”. Superstar Quinn Kelsey, a favorite leading baritone at the Metropolitan Opera, shares that Dylan, "utilized his own intuitive twists on the storyline of certain pieces to give me as a singer a different perspective of my interpretation.”  

Bass-baritone Joe Chiapa is an LA-based educator, writer, and performer. He has sung roles such as Tom Collins in Rent and Walter DeCoeurcey in Chess: the musical with Jaxx Theatricals and performs with local opera companies such as Independent Opera Company, Valley Opera Performing Arts, and LA Opera. Favorite roles include Escamillo in “Carmen,” Don Giovanni in “Don Giovanni,” Salieri in “Mozart and Salieri,” and Guglielmo in “Così fan tutte.” He is on faculty as a Professor of Voice at Loyola Marymount University and Pierce College and writes and produces for web shows, comedy, and theater.

Nandani Sinha is a dynamic mezzo-soprano whose rich tone, magnetic stage presence, and versatility have earned her critical acclaim across opera, musical theater, and concert stages worldwide. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Cornell University, and California State University Los Angeles, she brings both technical mastery and emotional depth to her performances.

She has been featured in leading roles with companies including LA Opera, Opera San José, Long Beach Opera, and Opera Santa Barbara, portraying characters ranging from Carmen and Amneris to Suzuki and Mrs. Lovett. Known for her command of contemporary repertoire as well as the classics, Ms. Sinha is a sought-after interpreter of new works and a passionate advocate for underrepresented composers.

In addition to her performance career, Nandani is a doctoral candidate at Johns Hopkins University, where she explores the intersections of music, medicine, and social change. She is the founder and executive director of Music Heals Minds, a nonprofit dedicated to using music as a therapeutic tool for individuals with cognitive and neurological challenges.

With a voice described as “luminous, compelling, and profoundly human,” - Opera News, Nandani continues to captivate audiences and inspire the next generation of vocal artists.

Tenor David De Melo has performed in leading roles such as Radamès in Aida with the Temecula Valley Symphony, Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana with the Con Forza Lyric Theatre, and Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca at the Mediterranean Opera Festival in Sicily. He has sung with various orchestras and opera companies, including the San Diego Community Orchestra and Inland Valley Opera, and performed as the tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Handel’s Messiah. With experience in both opera and Broadway standards, Mr. De Melo has appeared in roles such as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables: In Concert and The Lover in Menotti’s Amelia Goes to the Ball.

Leanna Crenshaw is excited to be making her VOPA debut! She recently moved back to her native Southern California, after completing an Artist Diploma in Voice. Since returning to So-Cal, she has sung several of Gilbert & Sullivan’s soprano ingenue roles, and also roles in Madonna: The Merry Widow and Cold Sassy Tree, and L’enfant et les sortilèges. Prior to her return to So-Cal, she portrayed many of opera’s iconic leading ladies, receiving critical acclaim for her “legendary high notes” (Classical Voice North Carolina), “soaring voice” and “captivating, unaffected thespianism” (Voix des Arts).  She also holds M.M. and B.M. degrees in Voice Performance from the University of North Carolina Greensboro and Biola University Conservatory of Music, respectively.

No stranger to the theatre, Mark Sterling made his debut as Aladdin’s lamp in 3rd grade; now 60 years later, Fiddler! This production is his real acting debut, and while he is nervous, showbiz is in his blood! Sterling’s father, Dick Sterling, was a singer/comedian and partnered for a short time with the legendary Shecky Green. His sister, Mindy, is a “movie star” with tons of credits, but she is best known for her role as Frau Farbissina in the Austin Powers movie series, and Miss Briggs in I-Carly. But don’t get it twisted, Mark is great in front of a crowd and has emceed hundreds of events! Mark is the owner of World’s Greatest Promotional Stuff, where he produces t-shirts and swag for companies, including the Fiddler t-shirts you’ll purchase today! He worked at Braemar Country Club as a Tennis Pro for 20 years, quitting in 1998. 24 years later, during the pandemic, Mark returned to Braemar part-time with his new dream title, “social ambassador.” In his new role, he is both a Tennis/Pickleball pro and also the ‘bringer of fun’ to social events. Mark is honored to have been asked to play Yussel in Fiddler, and hopes he made you laugh today!