Manchester Music Festival Staff
 |
Ariel Rudiakov Artistic Director Young Artists Program Director Faculty: Young Artists Program, Michael Rudiakov Music Academy Ariel Rudiakov has been Artistic Director of Manchester Music Festival since 2001. He is active as both violist and conductor. Among many professional affiliations, he is currently a member of the New York Piano Quartet along with members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and piano staff, and is Music Director and conductor of the Danbury (CT) Symphony Orchestra. Rudiakov received degrees from SUNY Purchase and the University of Illinois, and was a scholarship student at Yale University. Among recent activities, he has performed chamber music with the Shanghai quartet, Williams Chamber Players, the Corinthian Trio and was guest conductor for the Antara Ensemble in NYC. Ariel resides in Manchester, VT and Yonkers, NY with his wife, violinist Joana Genova and their two children, Michael and Liliana. He plays a viola made by Geoffrey Ovington in 2000. |
| top of page | |
 |
Patricia Morneault Business Manager As Business Manager, Patti coordinates concert production, special events and manages the administrative office. She located to Vermont from McLean VA in 2007 where she was a realtor for Weichert Realtors. She was MMF's Young Artists Coordinator for the 2008 season. |
| top of page | |
 |
Heidi Johnson Education Director As Director of Education, Heidi oversees the Michael Rudiakov Music Academy, The Manchester Youth Ensemble, Music Education Week, and works with area schools to enhance their classical music curriculum through residencies and in-school programs. Heidi has a BA in Vocal Performance from New England Conservatory. She has business acumen acquired as an office manager and a legal secretary in Portland Maine. She also serves as MMF's bookkeeper. |
| top of page | |
 |
Suzanne Diffine Young Artists Coordinator Summer 2010 is Suzanne Diffine's ninth season as MMF's Young Artist Coordinator. Suzanne has always been active in the arts, serving on the boards of Just Literary Center, The American Academy of Ballet, Dance Special, and the Amherst Youth Ballet. She was an administrator at the Chautauqua School of Dance and Special Events Coordinator at the Musicians' Institute of West Los Angeles. Suzanne holds a B.A. and an M.A. in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo. A veteran teacher, she was chair of the English department at Frederick Law Olmsted School for Gifted and Talented for 22 years. After a 30 year career in the Buffalo Public Schools, she retired to Florida in 2004, accepting a teaching position at North Broward Preparatory School. Her outstanding accomplishments in the field of education have been recognized five times in Who's Who Among America's Educators, twice in Who's Who in America, and once in Who's Who of American Women. She will also appear in Who's Who in the World 2010. A fitness instructor for 28 years, Suzanne is a national Pilates master trainer for Bally Total Fitness and Sports Clubs of Canada. Suzanne is currently the director of Pilates Health Connexion in Boca Raton, Florida. |
| top of page | |
Manchester Music Festival Faculty | |
 |
Amadi Azikiwe Young Artists Program Amadi Azikiwe, violist, has been heard in recital in major cities throughout the United States, such as New York, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Houston, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., including an appearance at the U.S. Supreme Court. In recent seasons, Mr. Azikiwe has been a guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Alice Tully Hall in New York, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He has also appeared in recital at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, on the "Discovery" recital series in La Jolla, as a guest artist at the 1993 International Viola Congress, and at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Since then, he has performed in Israel, Canada, South America, Central America, India, Japan, and throughout the Caribbean. He has also collaborated with such artists as Awadagin Pratt, Mitsuko Uchida, Andras Schiff, Nobuko Imai, David Soyer, and Felix Galimir. |
| top of page | |
 |
David Deveau Young Artists Program Internationally acclaimed pianist David Deveau has appeared as soloist with the Boston, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Houston, Minnesota, St. Louis, Miami and Portland Symphony Orchestras. He made his New York solo recital debut at Alice Tully Hall in 1982, and has since performed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Town Hall, and Carnegie Hall. He has also appeared in recital at the Kennedy Center, Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Spivey Hall in Atlanta, and on Boston's Celebrity Series. He made a debut tour of China in 2005, and has performed in the U.K. and Europe. Director of the Rockport Chamber Music Festival (MA), he also serves on the MIT music faculty. |
| top of page | |
 |
Ronald Feldman Young Artists Program Twice winner of the American Symphony League's ASCAP award Ronald Feldman has achieved critical acclaim for his work as conductor and cellist. He has appeared as guest conductor with orchestras including the London Symphony , and the Saint Louis Symphony. Mr. Feldman joined the Boston Symphony at the age of 19. He has appeared as cello soloist performing repertoire from Dvorak to Ligeti. Chamber music affiliations have included performances with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, and Collage New Music Ensemble. Performances include collaborations with Emmanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson, Gil Shaham, and Yo Yo Ma. Mr. Feldman is on the Williams College faculty and directs the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra. |
| top of page | |
 |
Joana Genova Young Artists Program, Michael Rudiakov Music Academy Ms. Genova began playing violin at the age of six in her native Bulgaria and made her solo debut at the age of twelve with the Plovdiv Chamber Orchestra. Following her Bachelor of Music from Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam and her Master's degree in chamber music at the Rotterdam Conservatory, she was concertmaster of the Amsterdam Bach Consort and a member of the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. Since 2000, she has lived in the US where she is a member of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra. Ms. Genova has performed as soloist with the Adelphi Chamber Orchestra, Metropolitan Symphony, Rockaway Symphony, Danbury Symphony and Manchester Festival Orchestra. She is an Artist Associate at Williams College, and serves on the faculty of the Manchester Music Festival and the Michael Rudiakov Music Academy in Vermont. |
| top of page | |
 |
Judith Gordon Young Artists Program Pianist Judith Gordan gave her New York-recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Introductions series and in 1996 was named Boston Globe Musician of the year. She has been presented frequently by the Bank of America Celebrity Series and participated in Emmanuel Music's multi-season series of music by Schubert, Schumann, and Harbison. With Rob Kapilow she explored music of Beethoven and Debussy in his What Makes It Great? programs in Boston, Los Angeles, and New York. As soloist with the Boston Pops she has performed Mozart, Saint-Saëns, and Ravel concertos, and with groups including the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, and the MIT Symphony she has appeared in repertoire from Bach, Beethoven, and Hindemith to Gorecki, Harbison, and Hyla. |
| top of page | |
 |
Danwen Jiang Young Artists Program Violinist Danwen Jiang, a native of China, was a prizewinner in China's National Violin Competition at the age of thirteen. She has performed as a soloist with numerous symphony and chamber orchestras across North America, and appeared in concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, La Salle Gaveau in Paris and the Great Hall in China. Ms. Jiang has played with the Soloists of the Pacific Rim, the Boston Players and the American Chamber Players. Ms. Jiang is Associate Professor of Violin at Arizona State University. |
| top of page | |
 |
Renee Jolles Violin Master Class Ms. Jolles has made solo performances with orchestras in the U.S. and Europe. She gave the American premiere of Schnittke's Violin Concerto No. 2. She is concertmaster of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and is a member of the Jolles Duo, Continuum, Chamber Music Plus, and Musical Chairs. She has performed at the Marlboro, Bard, Bowdoin, Taos music festivals, has served on the faculty of the Chamber Music Conference and Composers' Forum of the East, and has held teaching fellowships with the Juilliard String Quartet and at The Juilliard School. Ms. Jolles has B.M. and M.M. degrees from The Juilliard School. She received her violin and chamber music studies with Lewis Kaplan, Felix Galimir, Szymon Goldberg, and Juilliard, Tokyo, and American String Quartets and master classes with Itzhak Perlman. Faculty, The Juilliard School Pre-College Program since 1988 and Mannes Preparatory Division since 2003. |
| top of page | |
 |
Linda Morrison Michael Rudiakov Music Academy Manchester Youth Ensemble Director Linda received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Maryland and now has more than 35 years of experience performing, teaching, and conducting. She has performed as a free-lance violinist with numerous orchestras and chamber ensembles in the NJ/NY metropolitan area, and has considerable teaching experience. She has been honored to be included in Who's Who Among America's Teachers. She is a member of the Serenata Strings Quartet, playing in the NJ/NY metropolitan area. Linda has been teaching violin and viola for the Michael Rudiakov Music Academy since 2006. |
| top of page | |
 |
Jared Shapiro Michael Rudiakov Music Academy Jared holds a Masters degree in composition and cello from Bennington College. He is an Adjunct Faculty Member at Green Mountain College, Castleton State College, and teaches at the Community College of Vermont. |
| top of page | |