Eric Dudley, whose career spans continents, is deeply engaged in the performance and creation of contemporary music.

Eric Dudley appointed as Howard Hanson Artist-in-Residence, 2018-19

Pacific's Conservatory of Music welcomes conductor, composer and performer Eric Dudley as the Howard Hanson Artist-in-Residence for 2018-19. Celebrated as a champion of living music, Dudley serves as artistic director of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (SFCMP) and is a co-founding member of the Grammy award-winning vocal ensemble, Roomful of Teeth.

"We are grateful that our students will have the opportunity to learn with Eric as they forge their own careers," said Conservatory Dean Peter Witte. "In naming Eric as Howard Hanson Artist-in-Residence, Pacific celebrates one of the most interesting pages from our history."

Howard Hanson, the celebrated Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, conductor and educator, launched his musical career as a teacher of composition and music theory at Pacific. Appointed at age 19, his gifts were so great that by age 22 he was dean of Pacific's Conservatory. He went on to shape the Eastman School of Music in a historic 40-year tenure as director.

"As an alumnus of the Eastman School, Dudley carries forward some of the same musical lineage that began with Hanson at Pacific those many years ago, and on many levels, the honorific seems right," continued Witte. "We're grateful to Eastman School's Dean Jamal Rossi for supporting this initiative, which celebrates both Hanson's time at Pacific and his legacy at Eastman."

In the style of Hanson, Dudley leads a multi-faceted career. Deeply engaged in the performance and creation of contemporary music, he has served as Roomful of Teeth's tenor since its founding in 2009. The ensemble is widely celebrated as groundbreaking in multiple settings from the Ojai Festival to the Tank to performances with the New York Philharmonic. Dudley's first visit to Pacific was in October 2017, when he performed and taught as part of Roomful of Teeth's three-day residency on campus.

"I could tell immediately from visiting Pacific, and from what I already know of Dean Witte's zeal and wide-spanning vision, that the Conservatory is brimming with excitement and possibilities, and that the students and faculty are energized, responsive, and inquisitive about the call of forming musical careers in the present day," said Dudley. "I'm extremely enthused to become part of that conversation, and to explore and interact with as many different strands of activity at the Conservatory as possible."

"Like Howard Hanson, Eric is a polymath," said Witte. "Because his musicianship is so comprehensive and his commitment to the music of our time is so firm, we know that his appointment as Pacific's Howard Hanson Artist-in-Residence will energize our conversations about the future of music."