Music Director Stuart Malina
In a wide variety of concerts, from masterworks and grand opera to pops, Stuart Malina’s ease on the podium, engaging personality, and insightful interpretations have thrilled audiences and helped to break down the barriers between performer and listener. This year marks Stuart's 21st season as music director and conductor of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. During this period, the orchestra has seen remarkable artistic and economic growth and solidified its place as one of the premiere performing arts organizations in the state. In 2013, he was appointed principal guest conductor of the Florida Orchestra, leading nine concert series each season, including the orchestra’s highly acclaimed Coffee series. In September of 2019, he was appointed Music Director of the Lake Placid Sinfonietta, the orchestra of the Adirondacks, which performs for six weeks each summer. This past December, he made his St. Louis Symphony debut.
He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2007, conducting the New York Pops in an all-Gershwin tribute including Rhapsody in Blue, which he conducted from the keyboard. An accomplished pianist, Stuart has impressive credits as soloist and chamber musician. He has performed concertos in Harrisburg, Greensboro, Charleston, New York, and Chautauqua, most often conducting from the keyboard. As a composer and arranger, he has created dozens of orchestral works, ranging from entire pops shows to works for symphony orchestra. His most recent composition, Common Fanfare for an Uncommon Orchestra, received its world premiere by the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra in September of 2017.
Read the Greenwich Time article on Stuart Malina here.
Stuart’s activities also extend to Broadway. In 2003, he won the Tony award for orchestration with Billy Joel for the musical Movin’ Out. He acted in Terrence McNally’s Tony Award winning play Master Class, opposite Zoe Caldwell and Audra MacDonald, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Stuart holds degrees from Harvard University, the Yale School of Music, and the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller. He studied piano with Drora and Baruch Arnon and with Keiko Sato.
He resides in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Marty. They are the proud parents of two children, Sara and Zev.
Website: StuartMalina.com
Assistant Conductor Ariel Rudiakov
Violist and conductor Ariel Rudiakov is co-founder and Artistic Director of Taconic Music in Manchester, VT, Music Director and conductor of Danbury Symphony Orchestra, CT and Adjunct Faculty at the University of Indianapolis, conducting the chamber orchestra and coaching chamber music. Born in Indianapolis, IN and raised in Riverdale, NYC, Mr. Rudiakov comes from a musical family going back three generations. He received his early musical training from his parents, Michael and Judith before attending pre-college at Manhattan School of Music.
Mr. Rudiakov holds viola performance degrees from SUNY Purchase (BM) and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana (MM), and was a scholarship student at Yale University's master's program where he studied viola with Jessie Levine and chamber music with members of the Tokyo String Quartet. He enjoys a diverse musical life, performing solo and chamber music to critical acclaim throughout the U.S. and abroad, with many fine musicians including the Shanghai and Jupiter Quartets, current and former members of the Tokyo, Juilliard and Guarneri quartets, pianists Ruth Laredo, David Deveau, Michael Brown, Andre Michel Schub, and Drew Peterson, among many others.
Former member of the New York Piano Quartet and Equinox String Quartet, founding member and president of SONYC (String Orchestra of New York City), Mr. Rudiakov was Artistic Director of the Manchester Music Festival (VT) from 2000 to 2016. Among his recordings are the complete string quartets by Camille Saint-Saens and the piano quintet by Vittorio Giannini (MSR Classics), which Fanfare Magazine described as "utterly superb". Composers Richard Lane, Philip Lasser and Coleridge Taylor Perkinson have dedicated works to Mr. Rudiakov, who is active in commissioning and recording new music.
At the podium, he has collaborated with violinist Jaime Laredo, cellists Sharon Robinson and Bernard Greenhouse, pianists David Deveau, Christopher O'Reilly, and others. Resident and guest conducting positions have included the Adelphi Chamber Orchestra, Metropolitan Symphony, Bergen, and Yonkers Philharmonics, Antara Ensemble, Manchester Chamber Orchestra, Harlem Chamber Players, Sage City Symphony and recording sessions with Dance Theater of Harlem for their World Premiere production of Alexander Glazunov's ballet Raymonda. Mr. Rudiakov plays a viola made by the late Geoffrey Ovington in 2000.