Series of concerts celebrates career
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A trio of concerts slated for the beginning of May will cap the career of Dr. David Rudge at the School of Music at the State University of New York at Fredonia.
After nearly 25 years, Dr. Rudge is retiring as Director of Orchestras and Opera.
Former School of Music Director Mel Unger noted, "With uncompromising musical standards, Dr. Rudge built an impressive orchestral program during his time at Fredonia. His well-balanced concert programs were popular with audiences -- the repertoire expressively interpreted with a fluent gestural technique."
School of Music alum of the Class of 2003, Dr. Essena Setaro, noted, "My freshman year was also David Rudge's first year as Orchestra Director at Fredonia. In the decades since, he continues to have massive impact on my life and has been my greatest inspiration as a musician, teacher, and human…He has been there to mentor so many of us over the decades, and his honest advice and encouragement both musically and beyond have made such a difference in the lives of so many of his students."
All three concerts are free and will be live-streamed. The public is invited to attend.
The Fredonia College Chamber Orchestra, founded by Dr. Rudge his first year at Fredonia, will play its final concert of the year on Tuesday at 8 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall. The program features 17th century works by early Baroque composers Marini and Purcell, beautiful Romantic works of Elgar and Kalinnikov, and 20th century satirical, ground-breaking pieces by Shostakovich and Charles Ives. The program closes with the Petite Suite of Impressionist composer, Claude Debussy.
The Fredonia College Symphony will present its final concert under the direction of Rudge and graduating Assistant Conductor Andrew Wolffking. on Saturday at 8 p.m. in King Concert Hall. The program will open with Leonard Bernstein's high-powered Overture to "West Side Story." Other works on the program will be the dark, brooding "Tangazo" by "Nuevo Tango" composer, Astor Piazzolla, and the even darker, harrowing "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima" by 20th century avant garde composer, Krzysztof Penderecki. The concert comes to a rousing close with Suite No. 2 from Manuel de Falla's "El Sombrero con Tres Picos" (The Three-Cornered Hat), a Spanish masterwork of rhythmic intensity.
The Improv. Collective, which had its 20th anniversary during the pandemic, will again be on stage with an evening of free improvisation on Monday, May 9, at 8 p.m., in Rosch Recital Hall. It will be a performance of spontaneous self-expression, created in the moment, without previous planning. Rudge urges music lovers to "come and be surprised."