Dr. Isidore Rudnick Bio
Dr. Rudnick has worked with students in elementary schools, secondary schools and colleges and universities from the United States and Europe. He holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in Jazz Studies and a Master of Music Degree in Composition from the University of North Texas and a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Jazz Performance from the University of Miami. Dr. Rudnick has previously served as the Music Department Coordinator at the University of Maine at Augusta, Director of Instrumental Music at Yakima Valley Community College in Washington State and Artistic Director at the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati. Dr. Rudnick recently retired from his 10-year tenure as the Fine & Performing Arts Curriculum Manager for Cincinnati Public Schools where he managed the creative and academic activities in the arts at CPS.
An accomplished composer and arranger, Dr. Rudnick has written works for large and small jazz ensembles, chamber ensembles, symphony orchestra and wind band. His music has been performed by professional groups and school groups at jazz festivals in the United States and Europe. As a performer and conductor, Dr. Rudnick has shared the stage with prominent American jazz artists including Jimmy Heath, Slide Hampton, Eddie Gomez and David “Fathead” Newman as well as European jazz artists including Janusz Muniak, Jarek Smietana and Joan Chamorro. As a trombonist with the Dallas Jazz Orchestra, he toured and recorded two albums including Live at Montreux and Romeo & Juliet which features some of his compositions and arrangements.
A passionate and dynamic advocate of jazz education in schools, Dr. Rudnick co-founded the Cincinnati Jazz Academy in 2018 in cooperation with the Kennedy Heights Arts Center and philanthropist Albert Harris. Under Dr. Rudnick’s leadership, jazz academy students performed in the United States and Europe and have garnered top soloist and ensemble awards at national jazz festivals.
Dr. Rudnick is the recipient of several awards and honors including: Creative Ohio Arts Educator Champion Award (2024), Cincinnati Jazz Hall of Fame Special Recognition Award (2024), Ohio Art Education Distinguished Art Educator Award (2017), and Down Beat Magazine Outstanding Performance Award with the University of Miami Studio Jazz Band (1998). In March of 2025, Dr. Rudnick conducted the world premiere of his Cityscape for Symphonic Jazz Orchestra and Trumpet and Tenor Saxophone Soloists at the Aronoff Center for the Arts in Cincinnati. The work featured 50 Cincinnati Public School student performers and special guest artists Tanya Darby (trumpet) and Camille Thurman (tenor saxophone).
In July of 2025, Dr. Rudnick retired from Cincinnati Public Schools and relocated to Portland, Oregon. He is currently the founder and president of the Pacific Northwest Jazz Education Association and directs the Pacific Northwest Jazz & Contemporary Music Summer Intensive Program that is being held in June 2026 at Portland State University.
AMANDA MARQUIS Bio
Hailing from Lincoln, ME, Ms. Amanda Marquis has been an active freelance musician (trumpeter) for over 30 years. After winning many awards at the high school level, she attended the University of Maine at Augusta as a Jazz and Contemporary Music Performance major, where she was selected as part of an elite group that performed and taught in summer jazz programs in several cities in Europe. She also has been a featured performer for shows on Maine Public Radio and National Public Radio.
Joining the Navy music program in 1996, Ms. Marquis performed extensively throughout the South, Mid Atlantic, Northwest, Southwest, and Midwest areas, as well as tours through South America, the Caribbean, Canada, and Mexico. She has performed in a diverse array of ensembles including rock bands, wind ensembles, brass quintets, big bands, and New Orleans style brass bands. Civilian groups that Ms. Marquis has performed with include the Maine Jazz Composers Big Band, Kings of Swing, Frank Foster's Big Bad Big Band, Monday Night Big Band, Adrian Duke Project, Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Police, and the Rece Jay Band. She is featured on recordings with the Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra, Kings of Swing, Peter Supreme Band, and Megan Vinther’s “Salish Suite’.
Ms. Marquis has been an active coach for the Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra’s Girls
Jazz Band program and a featured guest artist for the MPMEA All Girls Jazz program and an adjudicator and guest artist for Newport High School (Greater Seattle Area) Jazz Festival. She is also in demand as an adjudicator for local jazz festivals and solo and ensemble competitions.
Amanda is a 2018 graduate of Renton Technical College with a certificate in Band Instrument Repair and is currently employed as a Brass Instrument Repair Technician at The Mighty Quinn Brass and Winds in Redmond, Washington. When not performing, repairing, or teaching a studio of talented private students, Ms. Marquis enjoys spending time with her husband and pets in Auburn, Washington.
