Meet Shira Renee Thomas | General Director of Valley Opera & Performing Arts

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shira Renee Thomas and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shira Renee, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I started Valley Opera and Performing Arts (which was originally called Center Stage Opera) with my husband in 2005. As we were starting our own professional opera careers together, we began to see a glaring lack of opportunities for young, inexperienced artists to be able to hone their craft and build their resume. There was a big catch 22 in the industry — you couldn’t get hired unless you had a resume full of non-academic performing experience, but there wasn’t really anywhere to gain that experience. My husband and I founded the company primarily to give artists opportunities to learn and grow in a professional environment, and to be that bridge between college and a professional career. In performance, there is no better place to hone one’s skills than on the stage or in the pit.

Right from the beginning, we really were a training company, meaning we structured things so that we could groom and mentor young talent in a way that would prepare them for the professional world. My husband is a brilliant stage director and actor, and he could take artists who had no idea how to bring a character to life, and turn them into truly masterful performers. I was the voice and style expert, so I would mentor artists in how to use their voice, diction, breath, and musical phrasing to tell a dramatic story through the music. Throughout the years, we’ve seen many of our artists go on to have incredible careers, performing in some of the biggest, most highly respected opera houses in the world.

Over the years, the level of talent and production values of our shows have grown immensely, and now we are a little less training-focused, and much more of a professional production company. We still can’t help but give opportunities to fresh talent that just needs a place to hone their skills alongside true professionals, and nothing brings us more fulfillment than seeing inexperienced artists blossom into fully-formed performers and musicians.

As I said, we changed our company name a few years ago, and the reason for that is because we do a lot more than opera. We have a very popular concert series, called “The Best of Broadway”, which offers Broadway favorites performed by a cast of incredible musical theater singers, accompanied by 15-piece orchestra. We also have our own fabulous rock band, believe it or not, and we do a lot of jazz standards and soft rock as well.

It has always been important to us to be able to reach underserved communities that are often forgotten, and don’t have access to musical events, so we quickly created our “Opera Tree” outreach program. Through this program, we are able to bring performances to retirement communities, hospitals, homeless shelters, schools, and other often neglected communities.

So, what started out as a venture to give young artists performance and training opportunities has ended up becoming a full-fledged professional performing arts company.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Being a performing artist and producer is never easy, and is rarely lucrative. We choose this difficult life because our art lives in our very blood, and we accept the many sacrifices we must make because we just cannot envision our lives without our art. I have had the additional challenge of suffering from Recurrent Major Depressive Disorder for my entire adult life, and that has proven to be the biggest obstacle in my career. However, with the incredible support I have always had from my family, I was able to find a way to live my art, even while dealing with severe depressive episodes that can sometime blindside me. Because VOPA is a family company, I know that my family always has my back, and fully understands my illness. For the last nearly two years, I have been doing much better with my depression because I finally found a treatment that actually works for me. Ketamine infusion treatments have changed my life, and I am extremely grateful to Ketamine Clinics Los Angeles for their exceptional care.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The Madrid Theatre is a hidden gem in Canoga Park, and is where VOPA performs much of the time. The theatre will be closed for renovation January 2022 through Spring 2023, but it will be better than ever when it reopens, and we at VOPA will be back on that stage as soon as it’s open again!

Shogun Sushi is my favorite sushi place, and I’ve been going there since college… about 18 years! This is another hidden gem, located Northridge, that has a very loyal following (because it’s so good, and it’s so inexpensive for sushi!).

Ketamine Clinics Los Angeles (KCLA) has literally saved my life, and absolutely helped me to be able to thrive in my life and career. Ketamine Infusion Therapy is a fairly new treatment for depression and other mental illnesses, and Dr. Mandel at KCLA has been at the forefront of this groundbreaking treatment for over a decade.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I could never have achieved what I have, both professionally and personally, without my parents and husband. They have been my constant and ever-sturdy support system, no matter what.

Website: www.VOPArts.org

Instagram: @voparts

Twitter: @voparts

Facebook: @voparts

Youtube: https://youtube.com/user/csundeevah

Image Credits
Yulia Ronskaya, Drew Schufman