RIT Orchestra Conductor Named to Prestigious Musical Post

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Michael Ruhling

Michael Ruhling, music director of the Rochester Institute of Technology Orchestra, has been appointed as a member of the Haydn Society of Great Britain’s Committee of Honour. In that post he will advise the organization on program development, performances and research related to the music and life of classical composer Joseph Haydn.

“Haydn is often considered the ‘Father of the Symphony’ and was an incredibly influential figure as a composer and musician,” notes Ruhling, who also serves as an associate professor of music at RIT and as president of the Haydn Society of North America. “It is quite gratifying to be selected to assist in protecting and promoting his legacy. I also hope to utilize this post to expand opportunities for people all over the world to experience the beauty of classical music.”

Denis McCaldin, director of the Haydn Society of Great Britain adds, “We are proud to have a number of distinguished colleagues from the worldwide Haydn fraternity as members of our Committee of Honour.”

Ruhling has been conductor of the RIT Orchestra since 1998 and has previously served as a faculty member for the Eisenstadt Classical Musical Festival in Austria and as a guest conductor with the Brighton, N.Y. Symphony, the Prince George’s Philharmonic, the Finger Lakes Symphony and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Symphony and Opera. In addition, he was the 2008-2009 Christopher Hogwood Historically Informed Performance Fellow for the Boston Handel and Haydn Society and has also served as secretary-treasurer of the Society for Eighteenth Century Music.

The Haydn Society of Great Britain was founded in 1979 and sponsors educational programs, performances and recordings of the music of Haydn and additional composers of the Classical period of Western music, lasting from 1750 to 1815. The 10-member Committee of Honour serves as the society’s expert advisory board and currently includes noted conductor Christopher Hogwood and violinist Peter Cropper.