Passing the Baton
[img_assist|nid=715|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=250|height=167]By Louise Jones
Photography by Hubert Schriebl
At Manchester Music Festival, Ari & Joana Rudiakov are carrying on the family message and mission.
Music is created by people-regular folks who pay the bills, mow the lawn, brush their teeth and yet somehow never stop yearning for those things that are beautiful and inspired. That’s why music transcends time and place; it moves through generations and connects across countries and cultures. And it’s also why Ariel Rudiakov and his wife, Joana Genova-Rudiakov, are able to make a passable living, raise their two children and create extraordinary classical music in a small town in southern Vermont.
As artistic director of the Manchester Music Festival (MMF), Ari now carries on the work of his father, Michael, who held the same position from 1985 until his death in November 2000. The tradition also has passed to Joana from Judy Rudiakov, Ari’s mother and Michael’s widow. Each in their time, both women came to share equally in the hard work of managing the festival and in carrying out its mission.
"There are so many long-standing and wonderful family traditions in Vermont," says Ari. "The Manchester Music Festival is now 35 years old. That’s a blink of the eye for many family farms and other Vermont institutions that date back to the American Revolution and beyond. But we’d like to think we’re in the early innings of something that will be around that long. As time goes on, we hope to become an ever-more integral part of southern Vermont’s cultural scene. We have a grand vision for the future that I hope will play on long after we’re gone."
The MMF is a nonprofit organization funded by ticket sales and fees, individual donors, foundations and corporate sponsors. Since its founding 35 years ago, it has grown into a year-round program with a twofold mission: "classical music performance at the highest level and classical music education at all levels."….
