This event will be an open Masterclass for Millsaps vocal students with Scott Schoonover, founder and artistic director of the critically acclaimed Union Avenue Opera in St. Louis, Missouri, where he has served as conductor of more than 70 productions over the past 25 years. A few UAO highlights include: Kurt Weill’s Lost in the Stars, Wagner’s complete Ring cycle (Dove reduction), Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, La traviata, Turandot along with Albert Herring, Candide and Doubt all starring world renowned soprano, Christine Brewer. Schoonover also has conducted for several other regional companies. Productions include West Side Story, Don Giovanni, and La traviata for Asheville Lyric Opera, Le nozze de Figaro, Rigoletto, I Pagliacci, Samson et Dalila, Werther, Don Pasquale, and Die Fledermaus for Winter Opera Saint Louis, and Le nozze de Figaro, L’elisir d’amore, The Merry Widow, world premiere of Abe, Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado for Muddy River Opera Company in Quincy, Illinois.