S. John Trudeau (c. 1927 – November 3, 2008) was an American musician who expanded the music department at

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades ...

and helped co-found the outdoor

Britt Festival The Britt Music & Arts Festival is a non-profit performing arts festival located in Jacksonville, Oregon. Since its creation it has been among the premier performing arts festivals in the Northwest, and has managed to attract high-profile and loc ...

of performing arts in

Jacksonville, Oregon Jacksonville is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, approximately west of Medford. It was named for Jackson Creek, which flows through the community and was the site of one of the first placer gold claims in the area. It includes J ...

, the first of its kind in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

.Kettler, Bill
"Britt founder's 'passion for music' remembered: Services pending for Jacksonville festival creator John Trudeau"
''

Mail Tribune The ''Mail Tribune'' is a seven-day daily newspaper based in Medford, Oregon, United States that serves Jackson County, Oregon, and adjacent areas of Josephine County, Oregon and northern California. Its coverage area centers on Medford and A ...

'', November 8, 2008. Accessed November 10, 2008. In 1951, Trudeau came to

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

to join the

Oregon Symphony The Oregon Symphony is an American symphony orchestra based in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded as the 'Portland Symphony Society' in 1896, it is the sixth oldest orchestra in the United States, and oldest in the Western United States. I ...

as its principal trombone player. Trudeau first came to

Southern Oregon Southern Oregon is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon south of Lane County and generally west of the Cascade Range, excluding the southern Oregon Coast. Counties include Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, and Josephine. It includes the Southern Oreg ...

in 1955 with the Portland Symphonic Brass Ensemble for a performance at the

Oregon Shakespeare Festival The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States, founded in 1935 by Angus L. Bowmer. The Festival now offers matinee and evening performances of a wide range of classic and contemporary pla ...

Ashland, Oregon Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It lies along Interstate 5 approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the California border and near the south end of the Rogue Valley. The city's population was 21,360 at the 2020 cen ...

, whose founder suggested the creation of a classical musical festival in the area. Trudeau began a search, hoping to find an area that would be like

Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937. Tanglewood is also home to three music schools: the T ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, home of the

Tanglewood Music Festival The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Stockbridge and Lenox in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts. The festival consists of a series of concerts, including symphonic music, ch ...

. Together with Sam McKinney they established the

in 1963 as a two-week-long celebration of music in Jacksonville, described by ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

'' as "a picturesque former gold-mining town in southern Oregon". The two had been searching for a site and found it in an area that had been homesteaded by Peter Britt in the 1850s, and recognized that the site's natural acoustics made it appropriate for outdoor performances. The only such festival on the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...

when it was created, the stages were constructed with plywood and canvas, with lights set inside tin cans. By the time of Trudeau's death in 2008, the event had grown to a four-month-long performing arts event from June into September, featuring top names in classical, dance, pop, rock and musical theater and inspiring dozens of other festivals throughout the West. Starting as an instructor, Trudeau spent 32 years at Portland State, rising to full professor, and was later appointed department chairman and ultimately dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts. In 1977, he hired the members of the Florestan Trio as artists-in-residence and faculty members in the music department. With the group's appointment, the music department was able to attract better-qualified students. The university orchestra, which Trudeau conducted, expanded in size and improved in quality. Trudeau died at age 81 on November 3, 2008, from complications related to

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

.Stabler, David
"The longtime leader of PSU's Music Department dies at 81S. John Trudeau - He co-founded the Britt fest and conducted the Columbia Symphony"
''

'', November 8, 2008. Accessed November 10, 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trudeau, S. John 1927 births 2008 deaths Portland State University faculty Musicians from Portland, Oregon 20th-century American musicians