Marion Judish, professor of violin and viola, joined the St. Cloud State University Department of music in the fall of 1988. She received a Bachelor of Music Degree in Violin Performance at the University of Colorado Music School in Boulder, Colorado. She earned her Masters of Music and Doctoral of Music Degrees at the University of Minnesota's School of Music in Minneapolis. Her post-graduate work at the Juilliard School of Music in New York specialized in Chamber Music.
Dr. Judish has been concertmaster of the St. Cloud Symphony for the past 30 years. She also serves as concertmaster for the Amadeus Chamber Symphony and the Wayzata Symphony in the Twin Cities. She has been the featured soloist with these groups as well as with the Denver Symphony (Concerto Competition winner, now Colorado Philharmonic), Grand Forks Symphony, Heartland Symphony, North Minneapolis Symphony and St. Cloud State University Orchestra, among others. She has also performed extensively in Chicago, New York, Colorado, and Sweden. She toured in the U.K., Germany, France and Switzerland with the St. Cloud State University Orchestra featuring the Oratorio “To Be Certain of the Dawn” by Stephen Paulus.
Before coming to Minnesota, Marion was an active studio musician for several recording companies throughout the metro Denver area. She was concertmaster of the Brico Symphony in Denver. (This is the first professional orchestra in the United States to have a woman conductor.) She founded the Boulder String Quartet, the St. Cloud String Quartet, the Tresca String Quartet and most recently, the Rosamunde String Quartet. As an avid supporter of new music, she has performed for the Composer's Forum in Minneapolis on several occasions. She presented the premiere performance of the "Ghost Opera" for Pipa (Chinese Harp) and string chamber orchestra. She also performed “Dead Elvis” with the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony, "Three Mysteries" for Violin and Percussion by Daniel Dorff, "Journey" by Melissa Krause, “Lex” for violin and percussion by Michael Daugherty, “Hi Mozart” by Hartmust Hochmair, and “Chimera II” by Dr. Scott Miller.
Judish holds the record of receiving three consecutive W. Fiske Scholarship awards at the University of Colorado during her undergraduate studies. This was the most prestigious award to be given.