Dylan F. Thomas recently directed the semi-staged concert Opera Under the Stars at Orange County's Opera Pacific, which featured opera super-stars Ana Maria Martinez, Chad Shelton, and Quinn Kelsey performing operatic favorites with the Opera Pacific Orchestra under the direction of Maestro John DeMain. Thomas worked as the outreach stage director at Opera Pacific, where he staged the educational outreach show entitled Fun With Opera, which toured Southern California last year. He 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 this past summer.

Mr. 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 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. In the 2008-2009 Season, Thomas will direct full productions of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and Gounod's Faust.

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 Ambrogio in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia presented by Opera Pacific. 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.

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.

Dylan F. Thomas

Artistic Director
Pricipal Stage Director