

Dylan F. Thomas is the founder and Artistic Director
of Center Stage Opera in Canoga
Park, CA, where he has directed full productions of numerous operas, including
Gounod's Faust, Mozart's
Le nozze di Figaro, Puccini's
Tosca, Verdi's
Rigoletto, Donizetti's L'elisir
d'amore, Gounod's Romeo et Juliette,
Verdi's La traviata, Donizetti's Lucia
di Lammermoor, and Rossini's La cambiale
di matrimonio. He will direct a new production of J. Strauss'
Die Fledermaus in February 2011, and in June 2011, he directs the world
premiere of Marie's Orchard, a new
opera for which Thomas penned the libretto, by composer Philip Westin.
Mr. Thomas directed The Magic Flute
for the Pacific Symphony's
Family Musical Mornings series in March 2009. He was then asked to write
and direct their Halloween Spooktacular
concert in October 2009 as well as their Superheroes!
show in 2010, and was recently asked back to write and direct the 2010 Halloween
show for the family series in October
2010. He directed the semi-staged concert Opera
Under the Stars during the final season of Orange County, CA's
Opera Pacific, which featured
opera super-stars Ana Maria Martinez, Chad Shelton, and Quinn Kelsey performing
operatic favorites with the Opera Pacific Orchestra conducted by Maestro
John DeMain. Thomas worked as the outreach stage director at Opera Pacific,
where he staged the educational outreach show entitled Fun
With Opera, wrote and directed Opera
Soup for Opera Pacific's "Opera in the Park" presentation
in 2008, and also directed The Tinker of Tivoli
for their Opera Camp program in summer 2008.
Metropolitan Opera soprano, Ana
Maria Martinez, described Thomas as "thinking out of the box
in an intriguing and captivating way... an inspiring director and mentor,
particularly for young artists." Baritone Quinn
Kelsey, of Chicago Lyric Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, says that
Thomas, "utilized his own intuitive twists on the storyline of
certain pieces to give me as a singer a different perspective of my interpretation."
Kelsey says that Thomas' unique new production and staging concepts
"... could prove quite useful in bringing more and more audiences
back to the opera. Mr. Thomas' insight just seems to me to be a very healthy
way to reenergize opera productions."
As a singer and actor, Dylan F. Thomas has performed extensively throughout
California as well as internationally in opera, musical theater, and jazz.
He recently performed the role of Cavaradossi in Puccini's
Tosca with Center Stage Opera (CA),
and he sang the role of Amadee and Young Amadee
in the professional recording of Philip Westin’s new Opera Americana,
Heartland, featuring members of the
Opera Pacific Chorus, and under the musical direction of Maestro Henri Venanzi.
Other operatic experience includes several roles with the CSUN Opera Theater,
as well as professional engagements with the Opera Pacific, Center Stage
Opera, Euterpe Opera, Bear Valley Opera, and Opera Pasadena. Mr. Thomas
has sung the roles of Alfred in Die
Fledermaus, Larry/Matt in The
Face on the Barroom Floor, Daniel in Donizetti's
Betly, Mr. Splinters
in The Tender Land, Armored
Man in The Magic Flute, and
Barton in Esperanza.
He recently made his debut in the role of Alfredo in La
traviata, opposite his real-life wife, Shira Renee Thomas, and
also sang the role of Don Jose in Bizet's Carmen
for a concert performance with Center Stage Opera (CA).
For ten months during 2006, Mr. Thomas was engaged as a performer in three
different variety shows at Universal Studios
in Osaka, Japan. There he had the pleasure of singing not
only opera repertoire, but musical theater and jazz as well. He performed
the role of Luigi in the street theater production of The
Five Topping Opera, and was also a tenor soloist in the holiday
spectacular, A White Christmas Carol,
seen by upwards of 40,000 people each performance. In addition, USJ created
a holiday jazz show, which was conceptualized in part by Mr. Thomas.