Millersville University of Pennsylvania will have a new orchestra conductor this fall – Reuben Blundell.  Reuben comes to Millersville from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., where he studied conducting with professor Neil Varon during his doctorate of musical arts degree residency.  

For this fall Blundell is planning a series of conceptually themed concerts.  The first, based on the concept of ‘lightness,’ includes music by Schubert and Debussy, and a world premiere commissioned from Eastman composer Jennifer Bellor.  It will be held on October 21, 2008, at 8 p.m. in Millersville’s Lyte Auditorium.

The orchestra will be part of the Glorious Sounds of the Season concert at Millersville in December and they will perform in four concerts next year, all of them “ideally involving some form of artistic collaboration,” according to Blundell.  He said he is excited by the interdisciplinary opportunities possible on the Millersville campus.

Prior to studies at Eastman, Blundell was a violin fellow in both the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Fla., and the Tanglewood Music Center in Berkshires, Mass.  Blundell is a native of Australia and moved to the United States in 2003.

During his New World Symphony fellowship, Reuben’s conducting pursuits were encouraged by the orchestra’s artistic director, Michael Tilson Thomas. Reuben then led Miami’s Young Musicians’ Orchestra until he moved to Rochester, N.Y.  Reuben has participated in conducting workshops with the Naples Philharmonic and New World Symphony in Florida, the League of American Orchestras in Michigan, the Bakersfield Symphony in California, the Rochester Philharmonic at Eastman, and the Melbourne, Sydney and Tasmanian Symphony orchestras.

In addition to directing the orchestra at Millersville, Reuben will teach conducting, violin, and some general education music classes.

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Media Contact:
Janet Kacskos, APR
Director of Communications
Millersville University
717/872-3723 - office
717/368-2502 - cell
Janet.kacskos@millersville.edu

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