BRIAN ONDERDONK

Music Director and Conductor

As Music Director and Conductor for Center Stage Opera during the company's first five seasons, Maestro Brian Onderdonk is extremely pleased to have had the opportunity developing the organization into one of the premiere regional opera houses in the Los Angeles area. As Music Director, he has led the company in fully staged productions of Puccini's Tosca, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and L'Elisir d'Amore, Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte and Le Nozze di Figaro, Verdi's La Traviata and Rigoletto, Gounod's Romeo et Juliette and Faust, as well as a number of orchestral and choral concerts with the company's resident orchestra, including Bizet's Carmen, and Mozart's Requiem.

Since the founding of the company, Mr. Onderdonk has been particularly dedicated to bringing music of the highest caliber to the San Fernando Valley and greater Los Angeles Area, and looks forward to a bright and prosperous future continuing to achieve this goal with Center Stage Opera.
An enthusiastic conductor of all genres, Mr. Onderdonk has a particular passion for opera conducting, sparked by an opportunity to step in for the ailing Music Director of the California State University Northridge Opera Theater and conduct a live performance of Mozart's Cosí Fan Tutte with only a few hours' notice. Since then, he guest conducted performances with the CSUN Opera Theater in a wide range of repertoire, including Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore, Britten's Albert Herring, Strauss' Die Fledermaus, and Rogers and Hammerstein's Carousel. Furthermore, in July 2004, he was a guest conductor for performances of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin and Mozart's Die Zauberflöte with the Burgas Opera and Philharmonic Society in Bulgaria.

In addition to his work with Center Stage Opera and CSUN, Mr. Onderdonk was invited to step in as guest Music Director of the UCSB Symphony Orchestra during the Spring 2007 quarter to conduct the ensemble's final concert of the academic year. He has also been a regular participant at a number of national and international orchestral conducting workshops and seminars, including workshops with American Symphony Orchestra League and the South Carolina Conductor's Institute, working with such notable conductors as Carl St. Clair, Alasdair Neal, Donald Portnoy and Paul Vermel. Additionally, for five years he held the Conducting Fellowship position with the nationally acclaimed American Youth Symphony led by Los Angeles Philharmonic Concertmaster Alexander Treger.
Brian Onderdonk holds his Master's Degree in Conducting from California State University Northridge, and is currently in the doctoral conducting program at Indiana University, Bloomington, where he is the Assistant Conductor for the IU Opera Theatre and studies conducting with David Effron and Arthur Fagen.

DYLAN F. THOMAS

Director

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 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. In the 2009-2010 season, Thomas directed Gounod's Faust, as well as a remount of his 2005 production of Lucia di Lammermoor, to commemorate CSO's 5th anniversary season. In October 2010, he will direct the world premiere of Marie's Orchard, a new opera based on Willa Cather's novel O Pioneers!, by composer Philip Westin. Thomas will not only direct the staged world premiere, but he penned the libretto for the opera as well.

Thomas directed The Magic Flute for the Pacific Symphony's "Family Musical Mornings" series in March 2009, wrote and directed their Halloween Spooktacular concert in October 2009, and is currently writing and directing Superheroes! for the family series. He directed the semi-staged concert Opera Under the Stars during the final season of Orange County's Opera Pacific, which featured opera 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 resident outreach stage director at Opera Pacific, where he staged the educational show entitled Fun With Opera, wrote and directed Opera Soup for Opera Pacific's Opera in the Park presentation, and also directed The Tinker of Tivoli for their Opera Camp program in summer 2008, for which he was also camp director.

For more information regarding Mr. Thomas, please refer to the Dylan F. Thomas, Librettist Page on this website.

TBD

Stage Manager

TAWNEE LILLO

Orchestra Manager

Tawnee Lillo received her Bachelor's Degree in Horn Performance from the University of Arizona, and her Master's Degree in the same field from University of Southern California. Her career has recently brought her some great opportunities recording for film and television, including participating in the national tour of Shockwave, and appearing as the French Horn soloist in the Tony Award winning Broadway show, Blast.

LUKAS SWIDZINSKI

Staff Accompanist

Lukas Swidzinski, was born in Poland and came to the United States in 1996. He has been the staff pianist for the Department of Music at the University of California, Irvine since the fall of 2007 and currently serves on the faculty at the Santa Ana High School for the Arts.

In addition to his positions held in California, he has also worked at Capital University and Ohio State University, Columbus. Since coming back to California he is an active freelance pianist in the greater Los Angeles area. He holds a double masters degree in piano performance and conducting from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and a bachelors degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His principal teachers include Betty Woo, George Stelluto and Mykola Suk.

Since June of 2007 he makes his home in Los Angeles with his three cats.

AARON BREID

Assistant Conductor

Aaron D. Breid began his career as a musician at the age of five, studying piano in Temecula, California. While earning his B.M. in Piano Performance he gave numerous solo recitals, served as an accompanist for soloists, opera productions, and The Master's College Chorale – most recently appearing on the album "Light All Around."

In 2010, Aaron completed his M.M. in Instrumental Conducting at California State University, Northridge under the instruction of Dr. John Roscigno. While at CSUN, he served as Assistant Conductor to the CSUN Symphony Orchestra, CSUN Opera, CSUN Studio Orchestra, and CSUN Youth Philharmonic.

Aaron has appeared at numerous summer festivals, including the Conductor's Institute, the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors, Eastman's Summer Conducting Institute, and the Conductor's Workshop at the Waterville Valley Music Center. He has studied under Paul Vermel, Maurice Perez, Michael Jinbo, Neil Varon, and Ken Keisler. Currently, he is a student of Maestro Jorge Mester.

BRUCE ANDERSON

Chorus Master

Bruce Anderson is a frequent performer in several opera companies and choruses in Los Angeles. He has been the chorus master for Celestial Opera's productions of Fidelio, Abduction from the Seraglio, Julius Caeser and Gounod's Faust. Solo appearances include Birch in The Tree produced by the Mesapotamian Opera Company and First Prisoner in Fidelio. He has also appeared in the Redlands Opera production of Madama Butterfly and sings with the California Philharmonic Chorale as second tenor section leader.

Stage credits include Monophibia in Thyestes Feast, Whitmore-Lindley Theater and multiple roles over ten years with The Invisible Theater. Education includes attending the Hochschule fuer Musik und Darstellende Kuenste and Univeristitaet Stutgart, Stuttgart, West Germany, and the University of Pennsylvania, where he was graduated with a Masters of Arts. Private study includes John Jud, piano, Michael Foxman and Raphael Spiro, violin, Caren Adorni, acting and Steven Kronauer, voice.

SUZANNA SCOTT

Costume Designer

Center Stage Opera credits include: Lucia di Lammermoor, Tosca, Rigoletto, and Marriage of Figaro. Her other work includes: Six Characters in Search of An Author (California State University, Northridge); Voysey Inheritance (Theater 40); Our Town (Actor's Gang); Designated Mourner and Tragedy: A Tragedy (Son of Semele); Surf Orpheus (Ghetty Villa); Christmas Carol (Celebration Theater); A Grand Guignol Children's Show: Not for Children (Art/Works Theater); Fafalo (Ziggurat Theater Ensemble); Studio of Tomorrow (Two Loose Cannons Inc.). She has assisted Ann Closs-Farley (An Evening Without Monty Python), Karen Murk-Potter (Big Love, Romeo and Juliet) and Ellen McCartney ( Tug of War), and was a costume assistant on Crazy Heart. She has constucted costumes for: Traci Lords (Princess of Mars), Target (Mail Bags for the Target Dog), and Six Flags Amusement Parks. She graduated from California Institute of the Arts with her Masters degree in costume design. imdb.com/name/nm1358563.

BRIANNA LINDSEY

Makeup Artist

TBD

Set Designer