HISTORY
Bulgarian violinist Joana Genova and violist/conductor Ariel Rudiakov, who grew up in New York City, established Taconic Music in October 2016 with a mission of providing high-quality classical music performance and instruction throughout the year while making it affordable and accessible. In 2017 Jane Duda joined as Communications Director, completing our small but able team, supported by a committed board of directors.
Taconic Music owes a great deal to its musical ancestry to two musical couples: pianist Eugene List and violinist Carroll Glenn, who founded the Southern Vermont Arts Center Music Festival in 1974, and cellist Michael Rudiakov with pianist/teacher Judith, who took over in 1983, changing the name to Manchester Music Festival (MMF), and establishing it as a non-for-profit in 1984. Joana and Ariel met in Manchester in 1998 and, starting in 2000, ran MMF for the next decade and a half, organizing a successful summer festival, year-round performances, lessons for area children, and numerous outreach concerts around the region for young and old.
Since its founding, Taconic Music has cultivated strong ties with other local organizations—Manchester Community Library, Burr and Burton Academy, the Inn at Manchester, Southern Vermont Arts Center, Israel Congregation, among others—and has become a valuable resource for culture, entertainment, and education in the area. The Taconic String Quartet performs not only in the Manchester, Bennington, Rutland area, but at concerts series outside of Vermont: Milford, NY, North Adams, MA, Hudson Falls, NY, Danbury, CT and collaborates extensively with vocalist Maxine Linehan and producer/composer Andrew Koss on stage or in the Studio at Strawberry Fields Lane.
Now, in addition to successful chamber music concerts, residents and visitors alike can also enjoy jazz, fiddling, rock, and casual pop-up performances throughout the year.
2016–17
Taconic Music launches with a mission to provide Southern Vermont communities with year-round concerts, lessons, demonstrations, and educational programs, built upon the rich traditions of classical music. Sold-out Thanksgiving and New Year’s concerts affirm our vision for music in all seasons. Our Inaugural Summer Festival opens to audience and critical acclaim, as we welcome new and longtime colleagues and a select group of talented music majors to our summer ‘home’, Riley Center for the Arts at Burr and Burton Academy.
2017–18
We start Strings for Kids to fill a local gap in music instruction, offering violin, viola, and cello lessons for children ages 5–18. In addition to our popular holiday concerts, we host a series of monthly chamber concerts from fall through mid-spring. Our second Summer Festival brings the Shanghai, Enso, and Indianapolis Quartets and the Horszowski Trio to the Riley Center stage. Ariel and Joana revive a cherished musical collaboration with Dionondehowa Wildlife Sanctuary and School.
2018–19
The new Taconic Junior Ensemble provides an introduction to ensemble playing and public performance for advancing string students. Music in Action brings Taconic educational programs and concerts to area schools, libraries, senior and veterans’ residences, all free to the public. Our third annual Summer Festival continues to introduce local audiences to acclaimed musicians from around the world, as we develop name recognition for Taconic Music and garner critical accolades.
2019–20
Our typical year of concerts and outreach comes to a screeching halt in March, as the COVID-19 pandemic shuts down live performances across the globe. We quickly pivot and, planning for all contingencies, make the decision to hold a delayed, abbreviated, summer concert series. Sadly, we must ask our CMI young artists to stay home for the summer. In our fourth summer season, we make headlines, inadvertently becoming the statewide model for safely hosting indoor concerts during the pandemic. We add live-streaming to all our summer concerts and broaden social media outreach, expanding our audience far beyond the concert hall.
2020–21
With masked, outdoor concerts wherever possible, we continue to bring live music to young and old at venues across the region, including a Led Zeppelin tribute concert. Our fully livestreamed Thanksgiving and New Year’s concerts enjoy record viewership; we add more video and livestream events to our year-round offerings. Our fifth Summer Festival brings faculty and young artists back to Manchester, where health precautions are now a part of daily life. In lieu of ticket fees, grateful concertgoers make donations, don masks, and thank us for keeping the music going. We continue to livestream our faculty and NextGen concerts for remote audiences.
2021–22
With COVID-19 precautions still at the forefront, we continue to provide year-round music to the community, and host our sixth Summer Festival. We remain flexible, optimistic, and grateful to the individuals, businesses, and agencies whose continued support allows us to continue fulfilling our mission to make music accessible to all.
2022–23
The fall of 2022 sees the launch of our Jazz in the Barn series at the Inn at Manchester’s Celebration Barn, which opens with The Levin Brothers on their Fade to Blue tour, followed by the Asen Doykin Trio, Willis Delony and Friends, and the Kris Allen Trio. Our seventh Summer Festival welcomes the award-winning Arneis Quartet to the stage, along with our annual roster of notable faculty and guest artists. We continue our school residencies, workshops with high-school composition students, concerts in assisted living and veterans’ homes, and popup concerts across the region.
2023–24
Our inaugural Taconic Music International festival for adult amateur string and piano players launches in Padua, Italy, with workshops, regional travel, and performances in Legnaro and Padua. The first International Voices takes place at the Manchester Community Library. In what will become a regular event celebrating multiculturalism in the region, community members who hail from across the world join Taconic Chamber Players in an afternoon of prose, poetry, and music. Jazz in the Barn welcomes Conor Meehan’s Northbound Quartet in the fall and a special Valentine’s show with Oscar Perez and Charenée Wade. And, thanks to generous donor support, our eighth Summer Festival sees the Chamber Music Intensive become a full-scholarship program, helping us further extend our commitment to making music, and music training, accessible to all.
2024–25
Taconic Music International and International Voices are now fixtures on the Taconic Music scene, and Jazz in the Barn continues to be a hit with audiences in the colder months of the year. We continue to expand our musical reach, kicking off Vermont’s famous mud season and welcoming new friends with Violin vs. Fiddle, a friendly face-off with Hall-of-Fame fiddler John Kirk, followed by a potluck supper and barn dance in Green Mountain Timber Frames’ 1780s Reuben Waite Barn. We host our ninth Summer Festival with our renowned faculty and a cadre of four guest artists new to the Riley Center stage, harpist Rachel Clemente, flutist Matthew Lee, pianist Gili Melamed-Lev, and cellist Tommy Mesa.