Directed by April Sauline | Conducted by Tim Warren
Jon Janacek, Siegmund
A graduate of Baylor University, Jon Janacek as a Bass-Baritone performed an Armed Guard in The Magic Flute, Simone in Gianni Schicchi, Olin Blitch in Carlisle Floyd's Susannah, Peter in Hansel and Gretel with the Waco Lyric Opera and the Temple College Opera, and Alfio in Cavallaria Rusticana for Kingwood Summer Opera. Mr. Janacek changed to the tenor fach in 2008. He was a Regional Winner of the Graduate Men's Division of the Texoma NATS Vocal Competition in 2006. He won the Encouragement Award of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 2008 and the Audience Choice Award of the Lois Alba SOMA International Vocal Competition in 2016. Roles he has performed as a tenor include Canio in Pagliacci, Rodolfo in La Bohème, and Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos as a young artist with Kingwood Summer Opera. He performed Jenik in concert for The Bartered Bride as a vocal fellow at Music Academy of the West in 2016 and performed the role of Bacchus with the Berlin Opera Academy in 2017. Mr. Janacek made his Houston Grand Opera debut as the Official Registrar in Madame Butterfly in 2015. Other roles he performed at HGO in past seasons include Ein Anderer Mann in Götterdämmerung and Giuseppe in La Traviata.
Mr. Janacek is a current participant in the Dolora Zajick Institute for Young Dramatic Voices. For the Wagner Institute of the Miami Music Festival he performed excerpts of the title role in Lohengrin in 2018 and the role of Erik in The Flying Dutchman in 2019. Mr. Janacek recently completed recording and filming portions of four roles including Loge, Siegmund, and the younger and older Siegfrieds for a reduction of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. This reduction, created by Maestro Dennis Doubin, is a virtual video performance produced by Vegas City Opera. In November 2021 He returned to Vegas City Opera to sing Rodolfo for the zombie production of La Bohëme (La BoDead). Mr. Janacek returned to The Wagner Institute, Miami Music Festival in June of 2021 to sing Loge in Das Rheingold. Future engagements for Mr. Janacek include performances of Messiah in April in Waco, TX and the role of Giuseppe in Houston Grand Ooera's outdoor production of La Traviata at the Miller Theatre in May.
Rebecca Morris, Brünnhilde
Rebecca Morris is excited to be back in Las Vegas to perform the role of Brünnhilde in Vegas City Opera’s production of The Valkyries . She had a great time singing the same role in the film version of The Ring Vegas , which was a reduced version of the entire Ring Cycle, filmed at different locations in Las Vegas! She made her debut on the professional stage in Phoenix, AZ, with Arizona Opera and Phoenix Opera, and enjoyed working and singing in the
Las Vegas Valley for many years, before moving to Denver, CO. She is a graduate of Northern Arizona University, and received certificates from the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, The Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute and The Opera Academy of California in San Francisco, CA, the Crittenden Opera Theater Institute in Washington DC, and the Flagstaff in Fidenza program in Fidenza, Italy. She performed as a
Mezzo-Soprano for most of her career, and only recently made the transition to Soprano, singing the roles of The Woman in Erwartung and Senta in The Flying Dutchman . She will be singing the roles of Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni and Principessa in Suor Angelica in Urbania, Italy this summer. https://remorris3.wixsite.com/rebeccamorris
Alexander Hahn, Wotan
Hailed as "charming" (Opera News) and "commanding" (The Day Connecticut), with a voice that “trembled the foundations of the Warsaw Philharmonic” (Wielkanocny Festival LvB Czasopismo), Alexander Hahn’s performance career has taken him to prestigious venues across the globe. Mr. Hahn’s recent performances include his debut with the Beethoven Easter Festival of Warsaw as Pietro in Simon Boccanegra, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro with Bronx Opera, Claudius in Hamlet with Opera Ithaca, Monterone in Rigoletto with Opera Theater of Connecticut, and the bass-baritone soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with EOS Orchestra of Beijing.
Mr. Hahn’s upcoming engagements for 2023 season include his Wagnerian debut singing the role of Wotan in Vegas City Opera’s production of The Valkyries, a Lecture Recital in Vilnius, Lithuania at the 2023 College Music Society International Conference, and performances at the Fresno State Art Song Festival. Recent engagements include recitals with Constellations Chamber Concerts in the Washington D.C. region, a South-American solo recital debut in Bogotá and Medellín, Colombia (postponed due to the pandemic), and a faculty-artist recital of German Lieder at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Trossingen, Germany.
As an avid proponent of art song repertoire, Mr. Hahn has performed in recital halls across North America, including Schubert’s Winterreise in New York’s Staller Center, and in art song recitals in Chautauqua Opera’s Recital Series and Montreal Vocal Arts Institute’s Recital Series.
A former Paris Opera Competition Grand Finalist, Mr. Hahn’s commendations include awards and recognition from the Schuyler Career Bridges Organization, the Giulio Gari Foundation, the Heida Hermanns International Voice Competition, and the Yale School of Music.
Marcie Ley, Sieglinde
Soprano Marcie Ley has received critical acclaim for her performances across the United States and Europe. Her voice has been labeled by the press as a “warm and supple sound, with ample size and superb technique, all put to exquisite phrasing”.
Notable roles performed include Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro, Fiordiligi in Così fan Tutte, Antonia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Violetta in La Traviata, Mimi in La Bohème, Liú in Turandot,, Marguérite in Faust, and Nedda in 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.
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. Marcie currently serves at the President of the Board, Director of Education & Outreach for Vegas City Opera and the Choir Director of the Vegas City Children's Chorus (part of VCO).
Kurt Sedlmeir, Hunding
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 Walk¸re (2020), Benoit/Alcindoro in La Boheme (2021) and most recently played Escamillo in Carmen (2022). Kurt is always excited to get up and perform and hopes that you will enjoy the show!
Courtney Ankerfelt - Fricka &Waltraute
Mezzo-Soprano, Courtney Ankerfelt, is a Minnesota native currently residing in Las Vegas, NV after attending the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music in Southern California. While attending conservatory, along with performing in both full productions and opera scenes, Miss Ankerfelt, was the Concerto Competition winner, the mezzo soloist for Mahler’s 2nd symphony, received a grant from the Opera Buffs organization and found her love for negro spiritual. Courtney was a part of the American Wagner Project for three years through the Institute for Young Dramatic Voices. Miss Ankerfelt’s recent engagements have included; The Ring: Las Vegas as Flosshilde/Waltraute with Vegas City Opera, the Voices of Women concert series with Vegas City Opera where she recently performed selections from Maya Angelou’s Calypso Blues collection with Vegas City Opera in, Caged Bird: A Celebration of Maya Angelou, and the Opera in the Movies touring concert with Vegas City Opera. Upcoming engagements include Jenny in Vegas City Opera’s production of The Three Penny Opera and the benefit concert for the Jessye Norman School of the Arts in Augusta, GA.
Elena Jarlson - Helmwige
Elena Jarlson was born in Las Vegas, NV but grew up in Anchorage, AK. In Anchorage, Ms. Jarlson was able to study with NYC Opera Alum, Kate Egan. From there, she moved to West Hartford, CT to study with Joanna Levy at the Hartt School of music. At the Hartt School, she had the opportunity to participate in many performances, most notably as Mozart’s First Lady in Die Zauberflöte and Gretel in the Humperdinck classic, Hansel and Gretel. Ms. Jarlson then moved to Boston, MA to pursue a Masters of Music degree at New England Conservatory where she studied with Karen Holvik. While at NEC, she was able to sing in a variety of roles through the school and the community. As a lover of Gilbert and Sullivan, her favorite was playing Josephine in the G & S classic, HMS Pinafore. After a brief hiatus from performing, this is Ms. Jarlson’s debut with Vegas City Opera.
Kelsey Lee - Gerhilde
Kelsey Lee is a Las Vegas native. As a child, her family did community theatre, and she caught the theatre bug. She received a BM in Voice from BYU-Idaho and an MM in Opera from the University of Oklahoma. Her favorite roles include Fiordiligi (Cosí fan tutte), Antonia (Les Contes d’Hoffman) and the Baker’s Wife (Into the Woods). She is excited to be back in Las Vegas and performing with Vegas City Opera in the 2022 La BoDEAD, Opera in the Movies, The Valkyries and next up Cinderella with Super Summer Theatre.
Genevieve Fulks - Ortlinde
Genevieve Fulks made her Vegas City Opera debut this past October as the jealous Lucy Brown in Threepenny Opera and was last seen as the featured soprano in VCO’s A Night of Broadway Classics. She is the former lead soprano of The Celtic Ladies of Spirit Productions. She is also a former resident soprano of Ozarks Lyric Opera, where she sang alongside Metropolitan Opera tenor Michael Spyres and was cast in lead roles, such as Susanna and Cunegonde, under his direction. A native of Arkansas and a new resident of Vegas, she currently performs full-time at The Venetian as a vocalist in Streetmosphere. Upcoming performances include her Opera Las Vegas role debut as Annina in Verdi’s masterpiece La Traviata this June. You can find her album, Passages, on Spotify, featuring the music of composer Michael F. Murray and the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra of the Czech Republic.
Hunter Rose Fowler - Schwertleite
Hunter Rose Fowler (mezzo-soprano) performed in numerous operas during her time at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas including the title role of Dido in Dido and Aeneas, Public Opinion in Orpheus in the Underworld, and Sally in Die Fledermaus. During her undergraduate career she performed and studied Lieder at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. Summer of 2018, she performed the role of Mistress of the Novices in Suor Angelica in Varna, Bulgaria at the Varna International Music Academy, as well as both Third Lady and Third Boy in Die Zauberflöte at Lyric Opera Studio Weimar in Weimar, Germany.
Since completing her Master’s Degree, Hunter Rose has recorded two albums as lead soprano with Las Vegas’ Jazzmin Vocal Band, was featured as the alto in the quartet of UNLV Symphony Orchestra & Las Vegas Master Singers’ Mozart’s Coronation Mass in C, and has released her first original single called “White Lies,” a pop-electronic song with R&B influences. She is performing a solo show featuring her husband Gary Fowler at Gatsby’s Supper Club at Gambit Henderson Friday April 14th.
Nicole Harris - Rossweisse
Nicole Harris, soprano, is an emerging artist from Las Vegas, Nevada. She received her Bachelors of Music and Masters of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In 2014, she made her operatic debut with Vegas City Opera as Third Spirit in their production of The Magic Flute. Other productions with them include La Perichole (Hinoyosa), L’Etoile
(Chorus), Pagliacci (Chorus), Seven Deadly Sins (Brother), The Pirates of Penzance (Ward), Das Rheingold (Wellgunde), and Die Walküre (Rossweisse). She has also performed in several productions with Opera Las Vegas. For 9 years, Nicole was an active member of the Las Vegas Master Singers, under the direction of Dr. Jocelyn Jensen, and then, David Weiller. With them she was able to perform alongside the Las Vegas Philharmonic and sing major works including, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, Brahms’ Ein Deutches Requiem, and Mahler’s 9th Symphony. Nicole currently teaches piano and voice, works as a choral assistant in the Clark County School
District. She also is the secretary and board member with Opera Las Vegas and a roster singer with Opera on Tap Las Vegas.
Karin Hockman - Siegrune
An Israeli native, Karin Hochman, is currently pursuing her DMA in applied voice from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas under the direction of Dr. Alfonse Anderson. Recent performances include the roles of Euridice (“Orfeo ed Euridice), Helena (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Donna Elvira (“Don Giovanni”), and Madame Lidoine (“Dialogues of the Carmelites”). Ms. Hochman holds a Bachelor of Music from The Juilliard School and a Master’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music. She has been a member of the Pittsburgh Opera young artist program, singing the roles of Sesto ("La
Clamenza di Tito"), Jenny ("Threepenny Opera") Ottavia ("L’Incoronazione di Poppea") and Carmen ("La Tragedie de Carmen"). She has also appeared with the Pittsburgh Opera as the Page ("Salome"), Alisa ("Lucia di Lammermmor") and Suzuki ("Madama Butterfly"). Ms. Hochman has sung the role of Zerlina ("Don Giovanni") at the Kiev Opera, Miss Jessel ("The Turn of the Screw") at the Chautauqua Institute and Hansel with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra production of "Hansel und Gretel." With the Israeli Opera she sang the roles of Kuchtík ("Rusalka"), Madelena ("Il Viaggio a Reims"), Curra ("La Forza del Destino"), Innkeeper’s Wife (“The cunning Little Vixen”,) in the world premiere of Gil Shohat’s “The Child Dreams and the Third Lady in the
“Magic Flute”. Karin is a member of the Avant Gard opera group “Opera Camera” with which she sang the roles of Mr. Smith (“The Bald Soprano”) and Etroga (“The Crook”) all directed by Daniel Ehrlich. Karin Hochman is a recipient of the Baroch Grabov prize for exceptional emerging talent given through the Israeli Opera, numerous scholarships from IVAI (Israel Vocal Arts Institute), as well as other prizes and scholarships throughout her career.
Judy Lombino - Grimgerde
Originally from upstate NY, Judy has performed in musical theatre, opera and production shows throughout the US and traveled the world performing on luxury cruise lines. She is an understudy in Menopause the Musical at Harrah’s Las Vegas. She appeared as Andrea in the West Coast premiere of Jerry Springer the Opera and originated the role of SueAnn in Tease at the Blue Note Jazz Club. Favorite roles include April in Company, Cordelia in Falsettos, Squeaky Fromme in Assassins and Donna in the Taffetas. As a classical artist Judy has sung such roles as La Pericole, Papagena and Gretl. Judy trained with Second City and used her comedic improv skills performing in the Off Broadway show Tony and Tina’s wedding, with the Venetian Commedia Del Arte and as part of the A Touch of Mystery Las Vegas family. She is thrilled to perform again with Vegas City Opera.