A native of Croatia, Libor Dudas began his piano studies at the age of 8. His professional career began at 14 when he gave his first organ recital in his hometown of Osijek. This was soon followed by performances in major cities of the former Yugoslavia and East Germany. A scholarship took him to the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria, to study organ and liturgical music. While in Austria he performed in Vienna, Innsbruck, and extensively throughout Bavaria and Italy. Upon receiving his Diploma with Distinction, Dudas moved to the United States to further his studies at the University of Notre Dame, where he received his Master’s in Music. He went on to receive a Doctorate of Musical Arts in organ performance at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.
Dr. Dudas has studied organ with Rudolph Scholz, Craig Cramer, Gail Walton, William Porter, and Peter Sykes. He has premiered organ compositions by Boston composers James McDonald and Felipe Lara. His recording of Elgar’s “Vesper Voluntaries” can be heard on the CD “Historic Organs of Boston” published by the Organ Historical Society. Dudas has been the Organist and Choir Director at Boston’s Old North Church since 1998.
Dudas has studied harpsichord with Darlene Catello, Edward Parmentier, and Peter Sykes (with whom he also studied fortepiano). He recorded and premiered the harpsichord piece “Summer Mischief” by Michigan composer Matthew H. Fields. He has also studied conducting with Jeffrey Rink, Director of the Chorus Pro Musica, Boston.
As a harpsichordist, fortepianist and organist, Dr. Dudas has given numerous concerts throughout North America and Europe. Recent recitals on the fortepiano have included programs of Mozart and Beethoven sonatas and variations. He has presented a series of master classes in historical performance practice at the Music Academy in Osijek, Croatia. Most recently Dr. Dudas has performed recitals on harpsichord and organ in Austria, Croatia, Germany and Hungary.
In addition to being a solo keyboard instrumentalist, Dr. Dudas is also active as a vocal coach and collaborative pianist and teaches at the Longy School of Music, Boston Conservatory, and the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School. He previously served as the music director of the Fine Arts Chorale, where he conducted major works by Kodaly, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Handel, Haydn, Poulenc, Langlais, Faure, Bernstein, Orff and Brahms.
Teaching Philosophy
“My teaching approach is grounded in experiences gained by studying with instructors who offered a variety of different perspectives on keyboard performance, as well as my own professional experience as a performer and pedagogue on instruments from different historic periods. I believe in a systematic approach in the instruction of keyboard playing which covers a variety of techniques, musical styles and pieces. I also strongly believe that a complete artist must have a comprehensive knowledge of not only the music, but also the accompanying artistic, philosophic and historic context in which each composer lived and worked. Guided by this understanding, in my lessons, I incorporate discussion of the stylistic and technical expectations for different musical styles.”