Vivian Adelberg Rudow facts for kids

Vivian Adelberg Rudow, born in 1936, is an American composer and artist. She creates music and performs her own unique shows. She also leads orchestras and organizes concerts. Vivian writes music for many different instruments, from single performers to a whole orchestra. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Vivian Rudow's Education Journey

Vivian Adelberg Rudow studied music at a special school. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree in piano in 1960. Later, in 1979, she received a Master of Music degree in composition. Both degrees were from the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University. She learned piano from Austin Conradi. Her composition teachers were Jean Eichelberger Ivey and Robert Hall Lewis. Vivian also studied music theory and composition early on. She learned from Grace Newsom Cushman at the Junior Conservatory Camp. This camp was a first version of The Walden School.

Awards and Special Honors

Vivian Adelberg Rudow has won many awards for her music. She has received multiple ASCAP Plus Awards since 1987. In 1982, her piece called Force III was performed for the first time. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra played it, led by Sergiu Comissiona. This made her the first Maryland composer to have an orchestral work played in the new Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

In 1986, Rudow's composition With Love won a big award. It took First Prize in the 14th International Electroacoustic Music Composition Competition. This competition was held in Bourges, France. She also won First Prize in the International Double Reed Society Composition Contest. This was for her piece Kaddish for solo bassoon. Vivian also received a Maryland State Arts Council Fellowship. She got a City Arts Individual Artist Grant and a Meet-the-Composer Grant too.

Vivian Rudow's Music Career

Vivian Adelberg Rudow's music has been played all over the world. Her composition Urbo Turbo was recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. She has often worked with Grace Cavalieri, a poet from Maryland. They created three radio specials featuring Vivian's music. These were part of Cavalieri's "Poet and the Poem" radio broadcasts.

Vivian has also created her own type of performance art. She calls these shows "The Vivian." In 2000, she performed her piece Juan Blanco, Cuban Lawyer Variations of Variations. This was in Havana, Cuba, during a music festival. It celebrated the 80th birthday of Juan Blanco. He was the director of the Cuban Electroacoustic Music studio. She performed this piece again in August 2001. This time it was at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

Vivian was also the first artistic director of Res Musica Baltimore. This group later became Res MusicAmerica. It was active from 1980 to 1991. The group focused on showing the works of living American composers. In 1988, she organized an International Electroacoustic Music Festival in Baltimore.

Music Recordings (Discography)

• Love, Loss and Law. This album includes music documentaries. Some titles are “With Love,” “Portrait of a Friend,” and “Portraits of Lawyers.” It was released in December 2009.
• Le Chant du Monde. This recording is on the Harmonia Mundi Label. It features winners from the 16th composition contest in 1988. It includes “With Love,” with Paula Skolnick-Virizlay on violoncello.
• Electroshock Records– Various Electroacoustic Music, Vol. VIII (2003). This album features her piece “Racing Inside The Milky Way.”
• Electroshock Records– Various Electroacoustic Music, Vol. IX (2004). This album includes her piece “Cuban Lawyer, Juan Blanco.”
• Sunbursts, solo piano works by 7 American women. This album features Nanette Kaplan Solomon as the pianist. It includes Vivian's “Rebecca’s Suite” on the Leonarda label, LE 345.

Selected Musical Works

• Americana Visited Variations (for violin or viola and piano), 1984
• Ars Nova (for two bassoons), 1981
• Call For Peace (for flute plus tape), 2006
• Changing Space (prepared tape for dance), 1972
• Clouds of Memories, 2002
• Cuban Lawyer, Juan Blanco, excerpt from Portraits of Lawyers originally The Velvet Hammers (for tape), 2000
• Dan’s Suite, in memory of Daniel Malkin (for cello and piano)
  • Lament (with optional narrator, text: Carole Malkin “Passover Questions”), 1997
  • The Bare Smooth Stone of Your Love (with optional narrator, text: Carole Malkin “Cello Recital”), 1998
• Dawn’s Journey, in memory of Dawn Culbertson
  • (for piano and tape), 2005
  • (audio and DVD)
• Devy's Song (for treble instrument and piano), 1984
• Dark Waters of Elba (for orchestra), 2005
• Deepwater Horizons: Will We Sleep Again? (for flute and piano), 2011
• Earth Day Suite:
  • Dark Waters Of The Chesapeake, (for orchestra), 2010
  • Go Green! (flute concerto, for orchestra), 2010
• Fanfare For My Hero, In The Pin Striped Suit (for full orchestra), 1993
• Force III (for full orchestra), 1979
• The Head Remembers Victims, of W.W.II (for saxophone and prepared tape), 2008
• The Healing Place VI (for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, violoncello, prepared tape, optional narrator, text: Grace Cavalieri), 1991
• I Pledge My Love, 1992
  • (for tenor and string quartet)
  • (for tenor and piano)
• John’s Song, in memory of John J. Hill (for voice or instrument and keyboard), 2006
• Journey of Waters (for voice and 11 member ensemble, lyrics: Grace Cavalieri), 1994
• Journey of Waters (for voice and piano), 1984
• Journey of Waters (for small orchestra), 1991
• Journey of Waters II (new orchestral arrangement and voice), 2006
• Kaddish, in memory of Isaac Hollins (for solo bassoon), 1975
• No Rest For Devy's Spirit (for solo viola), 1984
• Not Me! (for violin, cello, and piano), 1989
• The Ocean Sings (for guitar orchestra, or 5 guitars and solo viola), 2010
• Portrait of A Friend (for tenor and prepared tape, text: Grace Cavalieri), 1986.
• Portraits of Lawyers (sound collage, art music documentary), 1989-2004
• Purple Ice, 8-10 songs (for voice and piano, lyrics: Grace Cavalieri), 1984–92
• Rebecca's Suite, in memory of Rebecca Blackwell (for solo piano)
  • Rebecca’s Song, 1989
  • Rebecca’s Rainbow Racing Among the Stars, 1991
• The Sky Speaks, 1. Clouds (for SSAATTBB chorus, soprano and violoncello solo, piano and 2 percussion), revised 2007
• Urbo Turbo (Urban Turbulence)
  • (for full orchestra, alternate title: Spirit of America), 1999
  • (for full orchestra and chorus), revised 2008
• Weeping Rocker III (for chamber orchestra and SATB chorus), 1993
• With Love, a fantasy for live cello and cello cases in memory of Myrtle Hollins Adelberg (for cello and prepared tape), 1986