Musical Director of the Fairfax Wind Symphony

Stan Schoonover has led the Fairfax Wind Symphony for all of its’ 24 seasons as Music Director. His thirty-two-year career in public school education included eleven years as Music Supervisor for the Fairfax County (VA) Public Schools, widely regarded as one of America’s foremost school music programs. Ensembles under his direction enjoyed nineteen years of consecutive Superior ratings and his groups have earned national and international recognition for their outstanding performances, including three Mid-West International Clinic appearances, three National Music Clinics, the National Concert Band Festival, the Mid-East Clinic, the ACB Convention, and fourteen Virginia Music Education Association (VMEA) In-Service Conference appearances. His ensembles have performed on three occasions for the President of the United States.

Mr. Schoonover has been an adjunct Instructor at James Madison University, serves as a Coordinator for the Music for All [MFA] National Concert Band Festival, and is a member of the MFA Educational Team, and the Midwest Clinic Advisory Committee. He has led ensembles throughout the United States and Europe, including performances in Paris, London, and Lucerne, and at Carnegie Hall, Soldiers and Sailors Hall, the GMU Center for the Arts, the Eastman Theatre, the Ferguson Center, the Forbes Center, and the Kennedy Center Concert Hall and Millennium Stage.

Mr. Schoonover received his B.Sc. Degree, cum laude, from Gettysburg College, and a Master of Music degree from West Chester University. Postgraduate work has included study at the University of Virginia, George Mason University, and the University of Michigan. He studied conducting with Kenneth Laudermilch, Arnald D. Gabriel, William D. Revelli, H. Robert Reynolds, and Anthony Maiello, and considers Robert Zellner, John Casagrande, Jeff Bianchi, and Gary Green major influences.

Mr. Schoonover is an active Past-President of the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association (VBODA) and is an elected member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association. He has received numerous Citation of Excellence awards from the National Band Association, was named to the Phi Beta Mu Hall of Fame as well as the VBODA Hall of Fame, received the 2012 VBODA Phillip J. Fuller Award for sustained Musical Excellence, and the 2006 VMEA Outstanding Administrator Award. He is the recipient of commendations from the President of the United States, the United States Senate and House of Representatives, the Governor of Virginia, the Virginia State Senate and House of Delegates, and multiple commendations from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and Fairfax County Public Schools, including the Hobson Award for Fine Arts Instruction and the Mount Vernon High School Teacher of the Year Award.

In October of 2004, Mr. Schoonover was inducted into the East Stroudsburg (PA) Music Hall of Fame. He is an honorary “Suncoaster” and was an inaugural inductee of the St. Petersburg Festival of States Band Director Hall of Fame. Professional memberships include NAfME, Phi Beta Mu, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Betta Kappa, and the National Band Association. In 2017, he received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who’s Who. Golf, while elusive, is a continuing passion.