Robert Rudié has had a long and varied career as violinist, conductor, educator, and actor. Born of French parents in New York City, he began his study of violin at age seven, and made his concert debut at age ten. After graduating from the Juilliard Graduate School with honors, his musical career has included First Violin section, N.B.C. Symphony; Concertmaster and Assistant Conductor, Oklahoma Symphony; Concertmaster, American Symphony in New York City, Orchestra of the Americas, Westchester Symphony, Aspen Festival, New York City Ballet, New Jersey Symphony; Guest Concertmaster, Dallas Symphony, Honolulu symphony, and Assistant Concertmaster, Austin Symphony.
Mr. Rudié made seven tours of the United States, Canada and Mexico as recitalist and soloist with orchestra under Columbia Artists Management, and five tours as conductor and soloist with the Rudié Sinfonietta under the same management. He was a participant in seven Casals Festivals in Europe and Puerto Rico.
As educator, Mr. Rudié was Director of the Riverdale School of Music in New York City for nineteen years, head of the String Department at Harlem School of the Arts, and has been a member of the faculty at Vassar College, University of Oklahoma at Alva, Westchester Conservatory, and the University of Texas at Austin.
His acting career began when he was a boy, playing lead roles in Clare Tree Major’s Children’s Theater in New York City and then as a teen-ager playing roles in French in the Teatre Français in New York City. After a long hiatus, his acting career resumed with the performances and national tours of two one-man shows, PAGANINI! and HEROES AND LOVERS, with pianist and composer Kathryn Mishell, who wrote and arranged the incidental music. Acting roles in Austin, Texas include Scrooge in Zach Scott production of Christmas Carol at the Paramount Theatre, Saul in True West, Sam in Where There’s a Will, Sidney in Inspecting Carol, Max in The Homecoming, Doc in Westside Story, Bennett in Travesties, Polonius in Hamlet, Serebryakov in Uncle Vanya, and Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore.
Mr. Rudié’s performance as Paganini won an Emmy award for the Steve Allen PBS-TV show “Meeting of Minds” in 1981.
As chamber musician, Mr. Rudié was first violin of the Riverdale String Quartet and Bronx Arts Ensemble before founding Salon Concerts in Austin in 1990.