John South, a Huntsville native, has performed with Opera Huntsville since 2020, serving as Music Director for Cosi fan tutte and Gilbert and Sullivan in Rocket City prior to this production. He earned a M.M. in orchestral conducting from Western Kentucky University in 2022 under the tutelage of Dr. Brian St. John, and graduated from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2019 with a B.A. in Music Liberal Arts. 

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In addition to his work with Opera Huntsville, John has conducted the WKU Symphony, Bowling Green (KY) Youth Orchestra, UAH Wind Ensemble, and the community Summer Band and Orchestra programs at UAH. He also maintains an interest in musicology and history, having been published in UAH's Perpetua Journal of Undergraduate Research and the Alabama Humanities Foundation's Encyclopedia of Alabama. His mentors, teachers, and influences include Dr. Carolyn Sanders, Dr. David Ragsdale, Joseph Lee, Erin Huelskamp-Bohn, Bruce Zeiger, Phil Weaver, Ingrid von Spakovsky-Weaver, and Gregory Vajda.