Joni Rudak:  

My story's fairly simple. After graduation from REL, I attended Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, CA, where I became convinced that I wanted to pursue a career as a Violist. I spent 2 years at TJC and transferred to SMU, then to University of San Diego, where I got my BA in Performance. While I was at USD, I had opportunities to play commercial music, including shows, where I got to play for people like George Winston, Burt Baccarat and Carol Bayer Sayer, Andy Williams, Bob Hope, Glen Campbell, Natalie Cole, Tony Bennett, etc. This was great fun! I got to meet a number of wonderful people, including San Diego and Los Angeles Colleagues. I was asked to be in a graduate string quartet at San Diego State University, where I earned my MA in Performance. After finishing the degree, I took an audition and began playing with San Diego Symphony in 1982. By then, Steven was 6 years old and in school, so it was perfect timing to resume my pursuit as a professional violist. In 1984 I auditioned for Acting Principal Violist with the San Diego Opera and won the audition. I enjoyed playing with SD Opera until around 2003, when I was living in Portsmouth, NH and was not able to make enough commutes to San Diego to play with the opera and symphony. Now I realize how much I miss this part of my life! While I lived in New Hampshire, I was able to play with a number of orchestras, including some performances with BSO (Boston). This was quite enjoyable. In October 2006 my beloved Howard was walking onto a tennis court in San Diego and suffered an aneurysm. Kate and I were devastated. We decided to move back to Tyler, TX, the place of my birth. Kate enrolled at ...Expand for more