Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Rudoi.
Hi Paul, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I began my professional work in Cantus, the full-time tenor/bass vocal ensemble here in the Twin Cities. Before that, I’d lived everywhere but here… Florida, Arizona, and New Hampshire. But when Cantus offered me a job right out of college in 2008, I couldn’t say no!
My eight years in Cantus gave me a foundation to take risks and believe in grand ideas. Cantus is ensemble-led, so I was able to learn how to collaborate with others, dream big for programming and education, and try skills I didn’t yet have. By the time I left in 2016, I was a commissioned composer, contract vocalist, and conductor heading into a Master’s program for choral conducting, and I was about to become a co-founder of a start-up!
While in my Master’s in Eugene, Oregon, my friend Tyler and I started a consortium-commissioning start-up called Consortio. The goal was to make the logistics easier for composers and ensemble directors and to offer a marketplace of ideas for pieces not yet written so ensembles could join those that fit their programming needs. Aka a crowdfunding site for new music that allows people to get to the music faster because the logistics are better.
Since then, I’ve continued stretching in classical music, directing the St. John’s Boys’ Choir for their 40th Anniversary season, and now directing a choir at Meetinghouse Church while also working as a content creator for the National Lutheran Choir. But I’ve been stretching beyond music into other areas in recent years, most recently taking the creative energy I have in music and moving it into tabletop gaming.
I started Yokay Games LLC last year when my family and I dreamt up a fun twist on the kids’ game Duck Duck Goose… Duck Duck Mousse pits players against each other to get mousse cards and help ducks with bad hairdos. I loved the idea of non-tabletop kids’ games being turned into tabletop games with a twist, and I love how tabletop games often bring people together in ways normal life wouldn’t. We’re so excited about the Kickstarter for Duck Duck Mousse which launches July 11!
I’m loving being a creator in every sense of the word, and I love that Minnesota is so supportive of creative people!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It’s not always a clear-cut path to being a creative person. Sometimes the ideas that seem great aren’t the best in the long run. Sometimes ideas you think are just ok turn out to be crucial down the road. Sometimes it’s difficult for others to understand where your focus is or get excited about what you’re excited about. And sometimes, they’re right!
But practicing turning ideas into realities is a great way to test an idea. If you can make it a reality and convince someone of the idea’s value, then they start to show their true colors. You can see the value others place on it and can adapt the idea to suit not just you, but everyone.
I have a long list of ideas that haven’t seen the light of day. But thinking outside the box on those led to others that were successful, and asking everyone their opinions helped pave the way.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As the head of Yokay Games (https://yokaygames.com/), I’m designing our games from the ground up with help from my friends and family, and many many playtesters. We’re so excited about the Kickstarter launching on July 11 (more info at bit.ly/DDMKickstarter). We have ideas for other games too and are excited to share them in future years!
As far as music, I specialize in vocal music, either composed for voice or voices (i.e. choir) or sung myself in a concert setting.
I’m often told that people didn’t realize I wrote a piece, because many of my works sound very different from one another. I see this as a benefit! To me, every piece I write inhabits its own sound world, and while I have certain aspects of my music I adhere to, such as being tonal or accessible for a performer beyond me personally, I let the words or the commission inhabit every aspect of the piece when I write. Recently, I’ve moved into creating larger works with a strong historical narrative. “Our Transcendental Passion,” a concert-length oratorio chronicling the Transcendentalist movement’s rise, fall, and legacy, premiered in 2022 in Boston to critical acclaim.
As a performer, I love performing top-level music while not being in the spotlight. To me, being a solid cog in a well-oiled machine is so much fun, which is why I so enjoy singing in “contract choirs” where you fly into a location, rehearse for 3 days, and perform 5-6 performances before heading back home. It’s so efficient and so fun!
Who else deserves credit for your story?
So many people have helped me get to where I am. My closest friends and family–mom, pop, my brother Morgan, my spouse Brittany, my best friends Tyler and Tim–as well as my mentors from school including Dr. Sharon Paul and Robert Kyr (Eugene, OR) and Edward Bolkovac (Hartford, CT). And of course, all my colleagues from Cantus, who encouraged me to think crazy thoughts, some of which have stuck over the years.
Above all, I attribute my success to the communities I’ve been lucky enough to be part of over the years. It may not feel like it all the time, but everyone, EVERYONE one meets in their life has the potential to make them a better, more meaningful, more creative person.
Pricing:
- Duck Mousse will be somewhere in the ballpark of $20-30 per game on Kickstarter. The Kickstarter project will be from July 11 through mid-August, and if it reaches funding, the games will be shipped to backers by March 2024.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pauljohnrudoi.com/ and https://bit.ly/DDMKickstarter
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pauljohnrudoi/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pauljohnrudoi
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@yokay_games
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/pauljohnrudoi
- Other: https://bit.ly/DDMsignup
