About Us

---

Daz Weller, is the most sought-after director and actor on and off the Strip, this production promises a razor-sharp, visually stunning night of intrigue. An Australian transplant, Daz Weller moved to Las Vegas in 2010 after earning his BA in Acting from Queensland University of Technology. He has worked extensively with Australia’s leading theatre companies and is now making waves as the Executive Artistic Director of Vegas Theatre Company (VTC). Since arriving in Las Vegas, Weller has carved out a dynamic presence both onstage and behind the scenes — and this latest production is set to be one of his most thrilling creations yet. “It’s a real joy to be back with Vegas City Opera, working on this rich, glittering world of dangerous Liaisons. Susa’s music seduces you, deceives you and then breaks your heart.  It’s a beautiful, bruising piece and exactly the kind of journey a director dreams of taking.” 

Denver native Eric J. McConnell is quickly garnering acclaim in the American opera and musical theatre communities for his distinctive dramatic voice and theatrical style. He began his season with an 18-show run as the title character in Sondheim’s masterpiece Sweeney Todd with the Greenhouse Cabaret in Bend, Oregon. He takes on two contemporary American debuts Spring 2025, first as Kenny Kincaid in The Cook-Off with Hub City Opera and then as the Vicomte de Valmont in The Dangerous Liaisons with Vegas City Opera. He takes on two contemporary American debuts in spring of 2025, first as Kenny Kincaid in The Cook-Off with Hub City Opera and then as the Victomte de Valmont in The Dangerous Liaisonswith Vegas City Opera.

Previous seasons have seen professional debuts with Opera Saratoga as the D’Ysquith Family in A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder; Sarasota Opera as Leporello in Don Giovanni and Jago in Ernani, Shreveport Opera as Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte; Virginia Opera as Sam in Trouble in Tahiti, Donner in Das Rheingold, Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro, and Colline in La bohème; Opera Fort Collins as Olin Blitch in Susannah and Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro; Opera San Luis Obispo as Gaston in Beauty and the Beast; Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theatre as Betto in Gianni Schicchi/Buoso’s Ghost and Orin Scrivello, DDS in Little Shop of Horrors;Union Avenue Opera as Carl-Magnus in A Little Night Music, Father in Ragtime, and the Wolf in Into the Woods; Opera Colorado as Figaro/Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro, Bartolo in The Barber of Seville, and Dr. Grenvil in La traviata; Central City Opera as Ceprano in Rigoletto, William Jennings Bryan in The Ballad of Baby Doe, and Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro; the Aspen Music Festival as the Sodbuster in Proving Up; the Albany Symphony Orchestra as Elisha Fitzgibbon in Roscoe; the Missouri Symphony and Landlocked Opera as Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro; Bel Cantanti Opera as Escamillo in Carmen; the Greenhouse Cabaret as the title role in Sweeney Todd; and the Suncoast Broadway Dinner Theatre as Bob Wallace in White Christmas.  Other roles performed include Grandpa Moss (The Tender Land), Basilio (The Barber of Seville), Simone (Gianni Schicchi), Frank (Die Fledermaus), the Sacristan (Tosca), and Aristotle Onassis (Jackie O). 

McConnell is a two-time regional finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and also won third place in the Denver Lyric Opera Guild’s 2020 Competition. He holds a master’s degree from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami. McConnell is an Eagle Scout, a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and a zealous collector of rubber ducks. He is also a writer: his debut novel, Mall, and its sequel, Park, are available at all major online book retailers.

Soprano Kayla Wilkens is an award-winning young crossover artist whose voice 'soars with effortless ease.’ This season’s highlights include Purcell’s The Fairy Queen with Vegas City Opera and the Las Vegas Sinfonietta, Prokofiev’s The Love for Three Oranges with Vegas City Opera and Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart, Coca-Cola's Speakeasy at the MGM Grand, the premiere of Again and Again and Again with Opera Las Vegas, Gounod’s St. Cecilia Mass with Masterworks Choral Ensemble, and duetting with Josh Groban at the Colosseum Theater at Caesar’s Palace for his 2025 Las Vegas Residency. Other recent productions include the musicals Cinderella (Cinderella) and The Threepenny Opera (Polly), and contemporary operas Proving Up (Littler Zegler) and The Ghosts of Gatsby (Teen Zelda). An enthusiastic supporter of developing new works, she appeared in the premiere and national tour of the musical We’ll Meet Again (Millie O’Brien), and opera premieres of Diary of a Madman (Sahfee), Vía Láctea (Peggy cover/soloist), Culture, Culture! (Page), and O Pioneers! (Marie Shabata). Other contemporary concert soloist credits include Shawn Kirchner’s The Light of Hope Returning with Desert Singers Las Vegas, Stephen Paulus’ To Be Certain of the Dawn with Lincoln Choral Artists, John Muehleisen’s Pietà with Abendmusik, and the premiere of Libby Larsen’s Moabit Sonnets with the Linfield Chamber Orchestra. Her honors include the Dorothy Kirsten-James Browning “Most Promising Young Artist” prize in the NATS National Artist Awards, as well as awards in the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions, the Lotte Lenya Competition, the American Traditions Competition, the National Musical Theater Competition, the Harold Haugh Light Opera Competition, and the Carolyn Bailey and Dominick Argento National Vocal Competition. Upcoming: soprano soloist in Mozart’s Mass in F Major, and concerts featuring musical theater and American songbook repertoire. www.kaylawilkens.com

Cincinnati-based Mezzo-Soprano Lauren McAllister recently performed the role of Second Lady with Queen City Opera’s Super Flute and sang the mezzo solo in Corigliano’s Fern Hill with the Akron Symphony Orchestra. This season, Lauren appeared as the Alto Soloist in Beethoven 9 with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and Queen City Opera, and Alto Soloist in Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb with Vox Veritatis. With Conspirare, she premiered and recorded Mark Buller’s Requiem in the Light. Upcoming performances include Alto Soloist in Mendelssohn’s Elijah, the role of Madame de Volanges in The Dangerous Liaisons with Vegas City Opera.

Lauren performs regularly with a variety of choral ensembles, including Conspirare, the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble, the Bach Ensemble of Saint Thomas, and Heri et Hodie. Lauren is an artist on four Grammy®-nominated recordings for Best Choral Performance: Conspirare’s House of Belonging (soloist), The Singing Guitar (soloist), The Hope of Loving (soloist), and the PaTRAM Institute Singers’ Sander: The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. 

Operatic highlights include Vesta in the world premiere of Fierce by William Menefield and librettist Sheila Williams (Cincinnati Opera), Queen of the Virtues in Hildegard von Bingen’s Ordo Virtutum (Collegium Cincinnati), Laura (Iolanta, Queen City Opera), Lazuli (l'Étoile, Sin City Opera), Melanto (Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, Opera Louisiane), Orlofsky (Die Fledermaus, Undercroft Opera), Courtier and Maid cover (The Witches of Venice, Opera Saratoga), and La Perichole (title role, Sin City Opera). As a soloist, Lauren has performed a variety of Bach cantatas with the Bach Ensemble of Saint Thomas, appeared in staged productions of the Pergolesi Stabat Mater and Bach’s Saint John Passion, and debuted with the Lubbock Symphony for their Chamber Sound! Series with works by Jennifer Jolley and David T. Little. Other notable appearances as a soloist include the Bach Ascension Oratorio, BWV 1083, and Bach’s B Minor Mass, Dvorak’s Stabat Mater, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Handel’s Messiah, Fern Hill (Corigliano), A Child of Our Time (Tippett), Ode to Common Things (Ratcliff), Considering Matthew Shepard by Craig Hella Johnson, and the US premiere of the Telemann Brockes Passion.