Biography
John J. South, a native of Huntsville, Alabama, graduated summa cum laude from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music, Liberal Arts focus, with a minor in history. He earned a Master’s degree in orchestral conducting at Western Kentucky University in 2023. As a performer, John played trumpet in the Huntsville Youth Orchestra under the direction of Mr. Joseph Lee for nine years, and served as a collegiate trumpet intern at the Tennessee Valley Music Festival in 2016 and 2017. He was also a member of the UAH Wind Ensemble under Dr. David Ragsdale, and studied trumpet with Dr. Carolyn Sanders. Although having maintained a lifelong interest in conducting, John turned his attention to it completely after losing his ability to play trumpet due to focal dystonia, forcing him to retire from trumpet playing indefinitely after graduating college. Ever since that experience, he has made it a goal to spread dystonia awareness and encourage further research in both the musical and medical communities.
As a conductor, John has been passionate about helping to enrich his local community. From 2017 to 2019, he participated in the Summer Band and Summer Orchestra programs at UAH, and has also conducted the UAH Wind Ensemble. In 2019, he became a member of the Opera Huntsville family. He served as music director for Cosi fan Tutte in March 2020, Gilbert & Sullivan in Rocket City in April 2021, Die Fledermaus in May 2023, and Amahl and the Night Visitors in December 2024. For Gilbert & Sullivan, he transcribed five Gilbert & Sullivan pieces for reduced orchestration, including the show’s overture. John also served as Assistant Conductor of the WKU Symphony Orchestra from 2021 to 2023, and the Bowling Green Youth Orchestra in 2022.
John is also an avid history and amateur astronomy enthusiast, and often combines these interests with music to form a unique, diverse brand of musicology. He has researched and written about the relationship between music and astronomy, from both a historical and scientific perspective. In 2018, his essay “An Art Corrupted: Classical Music and Musicians in the Third Reich” was published in UAHuntsville’s Perpetua Journal of Undergraduate Research. He has contributed two biographical sports articles, “Willie McCovey” and “Terrell Owens,” to the Alabama Humanities Foundation’s Encyclopedia of Alabama.
John has been mentored and influenced as a conductor by Dr. David Ragsdale, Dr. Brian St. John, Joseph Lee, Erin Huelskamp-Bohn, and Gregory Vajda. As an instrumentalist, his mentors include Dr. Carolyn Sanders and Bruce Zeiger (trumpet), Ingrid von Spakovsky-Weaver (piano), and Phil Weaver (classical guitar).
Aside from music, John’s hobbies and interests include amateur astronomy, baseball, gaming, and writing, and he is a self-described root beer enthusiast. He currently lives in Huntsville, Alabama.