About Vegas City Opera
Courtney Ankerfelt, King
Mezzo-Soprano, Courtney Ankerfelt, is a Minnesota native currently residing in Las Vegas, NV. Courtney attended the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music in Southern California. While attending conservatory, along with performing in both full productions and opera scenes, Miss Ankerfelt, performed Wagners Wesendonck lieder with the symphony orchestra as the Concerto Competition winner, she was the mezzo soloist for Mahler’s 2nd symphony, received a grant from the Opera Buffs organization, and found her love for negro spiritual. Miss Ankerfelt’s most recent roles include Fricka in The Valkyries, and Jenny in Three Penny Opera with Vegas City Opera. In recent years, Courtney has been a part of various touring concert series with Vegas City Opera, the Rising Stars Benefit Concert for the Jessye Norman School of the Arts in Augusta, GA, and Madame de Croissy in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites. Miss Ankerfelt is thrilled to bring the mad king to the stage of Charleston Heights!
Keith Milkie, King
Keith Milkie most recently starred in Vegas City Opera's production of The Threepenny Opera as MacHeath, and is scheduled to perform Sergeant Sulpice in Daughter of the Regiment and The Comendatore in Don Giovanni this season among other concert works, including Bass soloist in Handel's Messiah at Green Valley Presbyterian Church with the Las Vegas Sinfonietta. Keith graduated from the William Esper Conservatory for Acting in New York City in 2015. Since then he has appeared as a soloist at Zankel and Weill Halls at Carnegie Hall and performed with The Phoenicia International Festival of the Voice, The Regina Opera Company, The Italian Opera Company, The Long Island Opera Company, The West Side Opera Company, and Vocal Productions NYC. His was the voice of the Bruce Weber-produced Versace “Chicago is my Beat” video fashion campaign of 2016. Vocal performances have taken place in such far-flung locations as Milan, Salzberg and the Hunan Provence in China. Just before the pandemic, he mastered all the classic 24 Italian Songs and Arias in a solo recital at St. Johns in the Village NYC, directed by his voice teacher, Susan Baum. Staged roles have included Don Giovanni, Dr. Bartolo and Figaro from Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Valentine from Faust and Scruples from The Impresario. He is an avid practitioner of mixed martial arts and plays guitar and piano. In 2021, he released a number of his original songs in an album entitled “Buying Time” which is available on all online streaming platforms.
Dina Emerson, King
Dina Emerson (Mezzo Soprano) first came to Las Vegas in 2000 for a temporary contract to replace the lead singer at O by Cirque du Soleil, and to her surprise, is still here 22 years later. She migrated over to Mystère by Cirque du Soleil where she sang more than 5000 shows and earned the nickname “The Iron Lung” from the lighting crew. Before settling in Las Vegas, Dina lived in NYC for over a decade and was known for her versatility and commitment to new and unusual works (The Village Voice called her a “vocal chameleon”). Most notably, she spent 15 years touring the world as a member of MacArthur Genius award winner Meredith Monk Vocal Ensemble. Dina is also co-curator of VCO's new music series SOIREE ECLECTIC (last Sunday of the month at Core Contemporary Art Gallery). Currently she is back at O as the alternate lead singer and is thrilled to be a part of this production.
Kurt Sedlmeir, King
Kurt Sedlmeir, Lyric Baritone, currently resides in Las Vegas and is a graduate of UNLV's School of Music where he majored in vocal performance recieving his bachelor of music in 2019. In addition to this, Kurt has studied Opera in both Austria and Munich, Germany. He has been featured in productions with UNLV Opera Theatre and Vegas City Opera. These roles include: The Quince in A Midsummers night dream (2017), Masetto in Don Giovanni (2018), The Jailor/1st office and 2nd commissioner in Dialouges of the Carmelites (2019), Hunding in Vegas City Opera's production of Die Walkure (2020), Benoit/Alcindoro in La Boheme (2021), Escamillo in Carmen (2022)and most recently played Hunding in Die Walkure (2023). Kurt is always excited to get up and perform and hopes that you will enjoy the show!
Kayla Wilkens, Queen's of Henry VIII
Kayla Wilkens is delighted to return to Vegas City Opera to portray the many Queens of Try Me, Good King. Most recently, she’s appeared as Millie O’Brien in the US Tour of We’ll Meet Again: A New American Musical, Cinderella in R&H’s Cinderella with Vegas City Opera and Super Summer Theatre, Littler Zegler in Proving Up with Opera Las Vegas, Polly Peachum in The Threepenny Opera with Vegas City Opera, and in the Final Fantasy XIV Eorzean Symphony concert. Kayla is honored to have worked with Libby Larsen in concert for Try Me Good King during the 2011 Festival for the Twentieth Anniversary of the Founding of the Linfield Chamber Orchestra, and as the soprano soloist for the world premiere of Libby Larsen’s vocal orchestral work The Moabit Sonnets. www.kaylawilkens.com
Marcie Ley, John Cage's "Aria"
Soprano Marcie Ley has received critical acclaim for her performances across the United States and Europe. Notable roles performed include Violetta (La Traviata), Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro), Fiordiligi (Così fan Tutte), Antonia (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Mimi (La Bohème), Liú (Turandot), Marguérite (Faust) and Nedda (i Pagliacci), with numerous regional opera companies in the USA, and also in Europe at The Arena di Verona in Italy, Opéra National de Montpellier in France, and in Germany with Theater Dortmund, Oper Leipzig, and the Musiktheater im Revier.
This is Marcie's 10th season with Vegas City Opera, where she currently serves as President of the Board and Director of Education & Outreach and has been lauded in roles such as her “memorable and thrilling” Magda Sorel in The Consul, and her “brilliant and complex” Elle (The Human Voice).
She has been a competition finalist for the Metropolitan Opera National Council, the Loren Zachary Foundation, the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition, and the MacAllister Foundation. Other professional credits have included Sarasota Opera’s Helen Dellera Jepson Award, and the Shoshana Foundation’s Richard F. Gold Career Grant.
Ginger Land-van Buuren, Mysteries of the Macabre
Before moving to Las Vegas from New York City Ginger was a Portland Opera Resident Artist. While in NYC Ginger was well received by The New York Times and Opera News in the New York debut of An Incomplete Education, with The Bronx Opera, in which she sang the lead role of Gontron le Comte. In her professional operatic career Ginger performed with Palm Beach Opera, Dicapo Opera Theater, Pacific Opera, Opera In The Heights, Natchez Opera Festival, Portland Opera, Opera Astoria and the National Lyric Opera, singing the roles of Queen of the Night, Lucia di Lammermoor, Donna Anna, Madame Goldentrill, Constanza, Gilda, Cunegonda, Miss Wordsworth, Violetta, Musetta, Lady with a Hand Mirror, and Nella among others. Ginger is also a member of AEA & SAG-AFTRA and has performed as Irene Molloy in Hello Dolly, Madame de le Grande Bouche (The Wardrobe) in Beauty and the Beast, Ellie Mae in Showboat, Lucy in The Telephone, Nellie Forbush in South Pacific, Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel , Velma in Chicago, Rose Murrant in Street Scene, and Clara in Passion. Ginger is thrilled to return to the stage with Vegas City Opera with this explosive work of music.