John Davies’ The Bremen Town Musicians

Vocalist Lisa Elliott performs in a wide variety of musical styles. From jazz standards on the Vegas Strip to coloratura soprano opera roles, Lisa enjoys many different genres of singing. She is also the Music Director at Grace Presbyterian Church Las Vegas, where she directs the Chancel Choir as well as the Grace Concert Choir and orchestra regularly in major works such as Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, and Durufle’s Requiem. Additionally, Lisa is dedicated to music education. She is an adjunct voice professor at UNLV, the director of the Grace Academy of Music Education (GAME), and teacher for her own private voice studio. In 2020, Lisa completed her DMA degree in vocal performance through UNLV, having already earned a Master’s degree at San Diego State University in vocal performance, and a Bachelor’s degree in choral conducting at Scripps College in Claremont, CA.

Athena Mertes, Soprano, is one of the Valley’s most celebrated sopranos, whose opera and concert credits include Marie (The Daughter of the Regiment), Mimi (La Bohème), Musetta (La Bohème), Despina (Cosi Fan Tutte), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Lucy (The Telephone), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Gianetta (L’Elisir d’Amore), Morgana (Alcina), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Abigail (The Crucible), Nella (Gianni Schicchi), Waldvogel (Siegfried) and soprano soloist in Vivaldi’s Gloria, Handel’s Messiah, Brahms Requiem, Mozart Requiem, Beethoven's 9th and Honegger’s King David. She has performed as a guest soloist with the Burbank Philharmonic, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Henderson Symphony, Opera Las Vegas, Vegas City Opera, Lexington Opera Outreach and the Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society. Some of her recent credits include Sylvia in the World Premiere of Behold the Man, Zelda in the West Coast Premiere of Ghosts of Gatsby and Alice B. Toklas in the West Coast premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon and Royce Vavrek’s 27 with Opera Las Vegas and she portrayed Mimi in Vegas City Opera’s La BoDead.

She is also the Chorus Master of the Opera Las Vegas Youth Chorus and the Director of Choirs at Thurman White Academy of the Performing Arts where she has 400 students. In 2020, she received the Teacher of the Year Award from Magnet Schools of America and is also a National Board-Certified Teacher. In March of 2024, her Choir was  featured at the American Choral Directors Association Regional Conference in Pasadena, California and in April of 2024, her contemporary a cappella group was featured at the National Magnet Schools of America Conference in New York City.

Rachel Kay Miller, mezzo-soprano, is a native of Streator, IL. She received her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of North Alabama in 2016, and in 2019, she earned her Master of Music from Illinois State University, also in Vocal Performance. Her repertoire encompasses a variety of musical styles, including art song, musical theatre, oratorio, and operatic works. Miller's recent opera roles include Zita in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, Terentia in Dan Shore's The Beautiful Bridegroom, and Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Miller made her Opera Las Vegas debut in December of 2021 in "Holiday on Broadway." She has gained a considerable interest in American opera through her performances of American chamber operas and her independent graduate research. In addition to her opera performances, Miller has appeared as an alto soloist in J.S. Bach's Magnificat. She currently resides in Las Vegas, where she teaches private voice lessons through the Las Vegas Piano Music School and her own private studio.

Christophe Kennedy (Bass-Baritone) received his Masters of Arts at the Cleveland Institute of Music under Dr. Dean Southern. Prior to, he completed his undergraduate’s degree at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas under Dr. Alfonse Anderson. He began his career in the arts at Legacy high school where he performed roles such as Roat (Wait Until Dark), Snoopy (You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown) and the Cowardly Lion (The Wizard of Oz). At UNLV, he added various roles such as Figaro (Le nozze), Colline (La Boheme), Bottom (Midsummer’s), King Claudius (Hamlet), and Leporello (Don Giovanni). While at CIM he was casted as The Chamberlain (Le Rossignol), L’Ombre (L’Enfant et les sortilege), Thésée (Hippolyte e Ariciee), and The Father (The Juniper Tree). Currently he’s performing the role of Jonathan in Donte Miller’s The Rocking Chair and will soon star in Opera Las Vegas’s The Bremen Town Musicians as General Boom.

Linda Lister (Director) is Professor of Music and Director of Opera at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Winner of the 2014 American Prize for Directing, she is a graduate of Vassar College, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. She has led UNLV Opera to two first place wins in the 2015 National Opera Association Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition and a second place win in NOA’s 2016 Opera Production Competition. She is author of So You Want to Sing Light Opera and Yoga for Singers: Freeing Your Voice and Spirit through Yoga, and co-author of So You Want to Sing Music by Women and Voice Secrets: 100 Performance Strategies for the Advanced Singer. Also a composer, she has written three one-act operas: Body of Art, State of Grace, and How Clear She Shines! She sings her own compositions on the Albany Records release Pleas to Famous Fairies.