Union Avenue Opera (previously Union Avenue Opera Theatre) is an opera company based in St. Louis, Missouri. The company was founded in 1994 by Scott Schoonover, the music director of Union Avenue Christian Church, which serves as the company's venue in St. Louis' Central West End.
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In the summer of 1995, Scott Schoonover, with the support of the Arts Group of Union Avenue Christian Church and on a shoestring budget, mounted Union Avenue Opera Theatre's first production: Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and since that time UAOT became an integral part of the St. Louis arts community.[1] After two seasons of smaller productions from lesser known operatic repertoire, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Schoonover produced a full-scale production of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, sung in English, in 1998. This production spurred increased audience attendance as well as a growing donor base. Professional singers from beyond St. Louis took an interest in auditioning for the company as well, causing the company to expand its audition cities to Chicago, Kansas City Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City.[2] Early seasons featured operas either in English or foreign language works sung in the vernacular. However, with its 2000 production of Giacomo Puccini's La bohème sung in Italian, Union Avenue Opera Theatre began its ongoing practice of presenting opera in the original language with projected English supertitles.[3]
Between 1998 and 2003, Union Avenue Opera Theatre usually produced one to two full productions per summer along with a concert staging of an operetta. For the company's 10th season in 2004, Schoonover expanded the season to three full productions in the summer. It was also during this season that, as a nod to the company's inaugural season, Dido and Aeneas appeared once again in the repertory to critical acclaim.[4]
In 2005, the company began offering off-season productions in October which focused on suspense-driven, "spooky" repertoire including Gian Carlo Menotti's The Medium, Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw, Béla Bartók's Duke Bluebeard's Castle and Puccini's Il tabarro.[5]
By 2006, Schoonover made the decision to drop "Theatre" from the company's name. To Schoonover, renaming gave the company the "different image" it was pursuing, and alleviated name-confusion with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, a previously-established company in the city. It was then that Schoonover also revealed major renovation plans between the company and Union Avenue Christian Church.[6] In 2007 a new orchestra pit and expanded stage were constructed successfully completing UAO’s first capital campaign. This renovation coincided with vast improvements to the church sanctuary.[1][7] This season marked the welcoming of guest conductor Kostis Protopapas, of Tulsa Opera, to conduct a double bill of Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi.[7] Protopapas has since returned to conduct productions of Otello, Lakmé and La fille du régiment. Capping off the 2007 season, Union Avenue Opera collaborated with The Black Repertory Theater of St. Louis to present George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess in a staging by the Black Rep's founder and producing director Ron Himes. At the start of the 2008 season, Schoonover imported a production of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore in 2008 as a shared production with Elgin Opera and Muddy River Opera Company.[8] This production earned raves, and distinction as the most "Family-Friendly Opera" of the year, from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.[9]
In December 2009, UAO presented for the first time Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors. The company has continued to revive Amahl yearly as a holiday production.[10] In August 2011, Union Avenue Opera presented the Missouri premiere of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking to great critical acclaim. In conjunction with the production, UAO and Union Avenue Christian Church welcomed anti-death penalty activist Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ to speak on the opera and her ministry. Prejean also attended the opening night performance. Union Avenue Opera recently announced its 2012 summer season: Handel's Acis and Galatea, Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera and Wagner's Das Rheingold, in an adaptation by British composer Jonathan Dove.
In recent years, Union Avenue Opera has been awarded grants from several organizations including the Missouri Arts Council, the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission, the Arts and Education Council and the Fox Associates Performing Arts Foundation.
Union Avenue Opera sends a small troupe of performers to local area grade schools to perform a children's piece (most recently Seymour Barab's Little Red Riding Hood), as well as educate children about acting and music.
During the 2009 season, the company began offering behind-the-scenes events in which patrons could learn about the upcoming production, hear musical excerpts performed by UAO artists, listen to presentations, view costumes and tour sets in a relaxed atmosphere. These events (Kaffee und Kuchen & High Tea) were held in conjunction with productions of Die lustige Witwe and Lakmé, respectively.
Union Avenue Opera has presented a matinee of Amahl and the Night Visitors free of charge to local area school groups ever since beginning its holiday tradition. The first ever matinee was underwritten by the Fox Charitable Performing Arts Foundation and the Boeing Employee Community Fund.
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