Mission Statement
The mission of Union Avenue Opera is to provide professional opportunities for gifted, emerging artists and to offer vibrant and affordable opera experiences in original languages to audiences that reflect the breadth and diversity of the St. Louis region. Believing that the arts are vital to the health and reputation of a community, Union Avenue Opera is committed to its urban setting, educational outreach, and artistic integrity.
Our History
Union Avenue Opera grew out of one man’s vision for an opera company that would offer professional opportunities for gifted, emerging artists. In the summer of 1995, Scott Schoonover, with the support of the Arts Group of Union Avenue and on a shoestring budget, mounted a production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and the rest is history. In 2007 a new orchestra pit and expanded stage were constructed successfully completing UAO’s first capital campaign. Over the last twenty-two years, Union Avenue Opera’s repertoire, audience, reputation, and funding have grown as it has pursued its mission with excellence and integrity, offering professional opera in original languages at reasonable prices. Union Avenue Opera has become an integral part of the St. Louis arts community.
Union Avenue Opera performs out of the acoustically superb sanctuary within the historic Union Avenue Christian Church at 733 N. Union Blvd, STL 63108.
Click here for a complete list of past productions.
Who We Are
Scott Schoonover
Artistic Director & Conductor
Scott Schoonover is Founder and Artistic Director of the critically acclaimed Union Avenue Opera in St. Louis, Missouri, where he has served as conductor of more than seventy productions over the past 31 years including this season’s Fiddler on the Roof and Samson et Dalila. A few Union Avenue Opera highlights include Kurt Weill’s Lost in the Stars, Wagner’s complete Ring cycle (Dove reduction), Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, La traviata, and Turandot, along with The Turn of the Screw, Albert Herring, Candide and Doubt starring world-renowned soprano, Christine Brewer. Scott has also conducted for several other regional companies. Productions include West Side Story, Don Giovanni, and La traviata for Asheville Lyric Opera, Le Nozze di Figaro, Rigoletto, Pagliacci, Samson et Dalila, Werther, Don Pasquale, and Die Fledermaus for Winter Opera Saint Louis, and Le Nozze di Figaro, L’elisir d’amore, The Merry Widow, the world premiere of Abe, Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado for Muddy River Opera Company in Quincy, Illinois. He conducted the world premiere of Barbara Harbach’s opera, O Pioneers! at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and conducts the Webster Opera Studio performances at Webster University. Also active as a choral conductor, Scott served for 10 years as the conductor of the Missouri Women’s Chorus and has acted as a guest conductor and clinician for several midwestern choirs. He serves as Director of Music at Union Avenue Christian Church in St. Louis where he has led the Chancel Choir on three European concert tours.
Emily (DePauw) Stolarski
Administrative Director
Emily Stolarski earned a Bachelor of Arts from Quincy University with a double major in Vocal Performance and Communications, and in 2010, she joined Union Avenue Opera as its Administrative Director. A native of Jerseyville, Illinois, she returned to the St. Louis region in 2009 after serving as Director of Advertising and Operations at Dame & Hurdle Jewelers in Quincy, Illinois. For eight years, she was active in Quincy’s arts community as a student, performer, and volunteer, including a three-year tenure with the Muddy River Opera Company Board of Directors. Emily has performed such roles as Rose in Gypsy, Marian in The Music Man, Roxie in Chicago, and Joanne in Godspell. As a soloist she has been featured in Handel’s Messiah, Schubert’s Mass in G, Mozart’s Laudate Dominum, and Faure’s Requiem. Emily was a charter member of the Missouri Women’s Chorus and has sung with the Union Avenue Christian Church Chancel Choir, with whom she toured German and Austria, and, most recently, Ireland and England.
2026 Board of Directors
Marilyn Sheperd – President
Scott Schoonover – Executive Vice President
Doug Rademaker – Treasurer
Lisette Dennis – Secretary
Douglas Allebach
Jeffrey Bewley
Mark Holly
Anna Roach
Jack Swanson
Carolyn Hewes Toft
Darwin Tanguilig
Joseph Lintzenich – Honorary member
