We recently connected with Fletcher Rudd and have shared our conversation below.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

The Mansfield Philharmonic (MansPhil) is a community orchestra based in Mansfield, TX. Our members consist of local amatuer and professional musicians, teachers, students, doctors, lawyers, nurses, and music educators who all volunteer their time and talent to play in the orchestra. We offer free public performances throughout our concert season – which includes standard symphonic repertoire, world premieres by local composers, chamber music, large-scale vocal works and our annual children’s concert. During the summer, the orchestra partners with local institutions for the Mansfield Summer Strings camp and community stage performances. MansPhil operates as a 501(c)3 non-profit organizations and is solely funded by patron donations. Outside of being the orchestra’s co-founder, I serve as its Education Director, stage manager, and cello section member. Violinist, Thao Pham, is also a co-founder and serves as our concertmaster and current President of the Board of Directors.

The orchestra first began in 2017 as a string ensemble called the Next Gen Chamber Players. We were about a dozen members strong – many of which were high school and college age musicians. Having performed in local community ensembles prior to its formation – I’d already recognized the value of what a volunteer orchestra could add to the city of Mansfield. This was further encouraged by the growing string orchestra program in Mansfield ISD which took its first steps in 2016. I initially served as the first conductor and president of the board of directors and reached out to several churches in the area in search of potential rehearsal spaces. That search led to a meeting and eventual partnership with Dr. Scott Ferrell, the Worship Arts Director for First Methodist Church Mansfield. We were soon welcomed by the gracious church members who offered rehearsal and concert space for our ensemble. Although the church has been our home since the beginning, our first concert performance was hosted at the Farr Best Theatre in historic downtown Mansfield. We were invited by Rosalie Gilbert, the Cultural Arts Coordinator for the city of Mansfield, to perform a patriotic concert there in June 2017. In 2018, the orchestra was renamed as the Mansfield Philharmonic after the hiring of our current Artistic Director & Conductor, Dr. Eldred Marshall.

During our 2017-2018 inaugural concert season, the Next Gen Chamber Players performed string orchestra repertoire in a loft area located inside First Methodist Mansfield. The orchestra also enlisted a composer from Arlington, TX, Kevin Day, who was then an undergraduate music student at Texas Christian University, as its first composer-in-residence. Mr. Day is currently on faculty as the Assistant Professor of Composition and Director of the Jazz Orchestra at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada. His compositions have been performed by Texas All-State ensembles, several middle and high school bands/orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony, and the Cincinnati Opera – as well as performances overseas in Europe, Australia, East Asia, and South Africa. Other current composers we’ve collaborated with include: Quinn Mason, Nicolas Miranda, Siobhan Cassidy Robinson, Joachim Johow, Armond Vance, David Lovrien and the late Ric Flauding. We also have featured guest artists in solo and chamber performances which include musicians from the Dallas Symphony, McKinney Philharmonic, and Steinway pianists.

As mentioned before, the orchestra was founded by college students in their early twenties. Although our passion was tenfold, our inexperience was definitely evident when it came to running a non-profit. This was also a difficult time for me personally as I was trying to balance school, work, and the orchestra while dealing with health issues. Eventually, more members would join the organization with non-profit experience and I would later step down from leading the orchestra so I could focus on my health. I returned a couple years ago and have been active with MansPhil ever since. In April 2023, we were featured in D Magazine as “the most diverse orchestra in America” in celebration of our largely diverse membership in terms of ethnicity, orientation, gender identity, and occupational background. MansPhil was also awarded “Best Suburban Orchestra” by D Magazine later that July. In January 2024, our concertmaster, Thao Pham, and conductor, Eldred Marshall, were interviewed by NBC5 in a story about the orchestra. This season, I’ve also returned to the podium as I have conducting opportunities for our upcoming, March 3rd concert and our Children’s Concert on March 11th.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

The great thing about having an orchestra is that you will find several people with different talents. We’ve been fortunate to have people help run our social media platforms in advertising our upcoming performances. Clips from our weekly rehearsals, interviews with local media publications, and recordings of our concerts help to reach a wider audience. We be sure to advertise that our concerts are free and even live-stream our symphonic performances. Our orchestra members can then share our posts on their personal social media accounts and it turns into a domino effect of likes, shares and views. Several of our members, including myself, also teach in the local school districts and invite their students and their families to attend our performances. Lastly, since we’re housed at First Methodist Mansfield, many of our patron are members of the church itself and our concerts are always advertised during services.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is that your talent is a blessing to those that enjoy it. Over the years, I’ve had countess interactions with audience members who were moved from our performances. I’ve also heard our orchestra members express the joy they feel of having a place to meet once a week and make music with their friends and colleagues. This journey has led me to meet several incredible people over the years and my life has been enriched for the better. When the Covid-19 pandemic occurred, the Mansfield Philharmonic still put on performances because we knew our audience members needed us at that time more than ever. Now, our audience attendance is at the largest we’ve ever seen and our membership has exploded to the point where we have literally fallen off of the stage during rehearsals. These moments solidify that the founding of the orchestra was meant to be.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mansphil.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mansfieldphilharmonic?igsh=MXJlMjQ5eGgyYnJrdQ==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MansPhil18?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@mansfieldphilharmonic7153?si=Nm77sonK7Uhkg3t1

Image Credits
Austin Martinez Keith Mathis Frank Sanchez-Tejeda