Shaunna Shandro is from Edmonton, Alberta and earned degrees in theatre and music at The University of Alberta, and trained as an Apprentice Artist with Edmonton Opera before attending The University of Texas at Austin, where she received a MM in Opera Performance and a DMA in Vocal Performance & Pedagogy. She also studied at The Mozarteum Sommeracademie in Salzburg, Austria as a scholarship recipient of The Johann Strauss Foundation’s Award for Advanced Studies in Music. While completing her Doctorate, she began collaborating and teaching at the UT Department of Theatre and Dance, and quickly found a niche in the world of Musical Theatre. Since then, she has frequently given presentations on musical theatre singing, acting, and auditioning, and has also collaborated in music theatre productions as a performer and music director. In addition to Musical Theatre, Shaunna has a passion for new music and has sung many Premieres in musical theatre, opera, and art song, including “Songs of North”, a song cycle by Canadian composer Violet Archer. Shaunna specializes in Slavic Music, and has performed as a soloist in the U.S., Canada, Russia, and Europe, including in her multimedia presentation “Songs of Love and Loss” at the Peter and Jeanne Lougheed Performing Arts Centre in Canada, and at the Rachmaninov Hall of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. Shaunna has taught voice and voice related classes both independently and at the collegiate level. Her students have performed on and off Broadway, in Broadway National Tours, in Regional Theatre, as well as in opera and classical music.

Mila Abbasova is a full time professor of class Piano and Music Theory at West Texas A&M School of Music, Canyon, TX. Mila came to USA from Baku, Azerbaijan, where she graduated from Baku School of Music with a Post-Master Degree in Piano Performance and Music Theory. As a member of the International Music world for almost 50 years, she has worked in Music Schools as an instructor of Piano, Solfeggio, Music Theory & Music Literature. Her experience includes: Concert Master & Chair of Chamber Trio, and Music Director. From 1990-1996 she worked in Belarus as a Principal of School of Music, Art & Dance, where she received awards of “Exellence in Teaching” and “Teacher of the Year”, and the prestigious “National Award” from Ministry of Music Culture (Belarus). She fled with her family to the U.S. in 1996, due political conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and now works at WTAMU. She has served the Amarillo/ Canyon area as an accompanist, performing in over a thousand faculty and students recitals, musicals, and operas. She’s also worked as a music director, orchestra conductor, vocal couch and staff accompanist for Amarillo College Theatre School, Amarillo Opera, Amarillo Little Theatre, Amarillo College Music Department, Summer Youth Musical, Amarillo College Experimental Theatre. In 2000 Mila received Oma Link Rowley Award from Amarillo College Theatre School in 2000, and the Award for Outstanding Contributions in Instructional Responsibilities from Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities at WTAMU in 2014. She lives in Amarillo, TX with her artist husband, Emin, and has two sons, Mikail, a professor of research at Cornell, and artist and designer, Magerram, and four grandchildren.