Shira Renee Thomas is the General & Artistic Director of Valley Opera & Performing Arts (VOPA), currently in its 20th 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 Vinyl. 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.”  

At age 3, Bradley Bundlie fell in love with the art of becoming ‘someone else’ when he first stepped onto the stage. A two-time YEA winner for his title role in Oliver! at Lawndale PAC, and Auggie Pullman in Phantom Project’s Wonder, Bradley is thrilled to be doing his first VOPA show! In 2019, he and his brother Bowie played John and Michael in McCoy Rigby’s Peter Pan in Riyadh. Most recently, Bradley played Orpheus in Theatre Palisades’ production of Hadestown. With his band FDOS, Bradley has played lead guitar in over 200 shows, from the beaches of Santa Monica, to NYC and the streets of Edinburgh, the Stan Lee Comic Con in Jeddah, and last fall in Monaco, opening for the Plain White T’s. Bradley currently plays in the jazz ensemble at The Colburn School of Music, having been mentored by jazz great, Mark Whitfield.  Follow him @bradleybundlie

Bowie Bundlie's theatrical debut was at age 4 in Glendale Center Theatre’s, A Christmas Carol, where he continued for 3 seasons as Tiny Tim. This summer, Bowie played Fate 3 in Theatre Palisades’ production of Hadestown. Other favorite roles include Chip in Casa 0101s Beauty and the Beast, Michael in McCoy Rigby’s Peter Pan in Saudi Arabia and Asher in Phantom Projects’ “The Giver”.  On TV, Bowie co-starred on Homecoming with Julia Roberts,  ABC’s The Goldbergs and appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show as half of the music duo, FDOS (@fdosofficial) with his brother. Bowie is the voice of Remy in the new animated show, “Remy Bear & Friends” coming soon to Peacock. Bowie is an accomplished jazz pianist and composer, and Bowie is working on the follow-up to his debut piano album, “This Goes  To 11” due out this winter.