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Marine Band Members
Bassoon
Staff Sgt. Stephen Rudman

Bassoonist Staff Sergeant Stephen Rudman of Le Roy, N.Y., joined “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in February 2020.

Staff Sgt. Rudman began his musical training at age 5 on violin and piano, and age 10 on bassoon and graduated from Le Roy Junior-Senior High School in 2011. He attended the State University of New York at Fredonia (SUNY) where he earned bachelor’s degrees in music performance and sound recording technology in 2015. In 2017, he graduated from the Manhattan School of Music with a master’s in classical bassoon performance. Staff Sgt. Rudman also graduated with a doctorate of musical arts in performance from Temple University in 2023. His bassoon instructors include Laura Koepke of SUNY, Frank Morelli of the Manhattan School of Music, and William Short of Temple University.

Prior to joining the band, Staff Sgt. Rudman was the principal bassoon with Symphony in C in New Jersey as well as the adjunct bassoon professor at Millersville University in Pennsylvania. He has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, Princeton Symphony, York Symphony, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, and Verbier Festival Orchestra.

Staff Sgt. Rudman performs with the Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra at the White House, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, and across the country during the band’s annual concert tour.