Changes announced at Manchester Music Festival

By Andrew McKeever

GNAT News Project

MANCHESTER — As part of a broader changeover underway at the Manchester Music Festival, Ariel Rudiakov, the long-serving artistic director, will no longer be serving in that capacity, according to a statement released by the festival’s board of directors last week.

The announcement states that at its meeting on September 15, the Manchester Music Festival (MMF) Board of Directors decided to make major enhancements to MMF’s summer chamber music festival, which will create an array of musical experiences for audiences the region. These enhancements will include, first, increased recruiting of top quality young artists, accomplished college and graduate school students in classical music performance wishing to refine their skills in performing chamber music.Inviting faculty and guest artists who can identify and attract top students, and who themselves can perform at the highest professional level at MMF’s regularly scheduled performances, is another important goal. In addition, the Board decided to focus more resources on offering its audiences educational programs about classical music history and performance, according to the announcement..

The Manchester Music Festival was begun in 1974 by internationally known pianist Eugene List and violinist Carroll Glenn.

While more resources will be invested in MMF’s summer festival, MMF will continue to offer a very limited number of other chamber music performances, such as its annual New Year’s Eve concert and selected other educational programs, the statement added.

As a result of this new focus, the Board decided to begin a search for a new artistic director. The Board expressed its profound thanks and gratitude to Ariel Rudiakov and Joana Genova for their many years of service to the Festival, according to the statement.

Rudiakov had been artistic director of the Manchester Music Festival since November 2000, when he was appointed to replace his father, Michael Rudiakov, who had passed away earlier that month. Michael Rudiakov had served as the festival’s artistic director for the previous 17 years, since 1983. Joana Genova has been the education director of the Manchester Music Festival since  2011 and was a founding teacher at the Michael Rudiakov Music Academy (MRMA) when it opened its doors in 2001. The Rudiakov Music Academy has been a program of the Manchester Music festival offering instruction in violin, viola and cello, to beginning, intermediate and advanced students age 6-18.