Adam Bodony

Promoted to Associate Professor
Patti & Rusty Rueff School of Design, Art, and Performance
abodony@purdue.edu

Adam Bodony earned a bachelor’s degree in both religious studies and trombone performance from DePauw University in 2008. He received a master’s degree in trombone performance from Indiana University in 2011—where his primary teachers were Jim Beckel and Carl Lenthe—and pursued conducting studies at the St. Petersburg Conservatory (Russia) and Indiana University. As a trombonist, Bodony has frequently performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and can be heard playing 2nd trombone on two album releases under the Telarc (2012) and Steinway (2014) labels, conducted by Krzysztof Urbański and Jun Märkl, respectively.

Bodony directs the Philharmonic, Symphony, and Concert Orchestras in addition to overseeing the department’s applied music program. Since his arrival at Purdue University in 2015, orchestra enrollment has nearly doubled, creating the need for an additional two orchestras. Under Bodony’s direction, the Purdue Philharmonic Orchestra was named Winner of The American Prize in Orchestral Performance (college/university division) in 2021 and Runner-Up in 2023. Also in 2021, Bodony was named Runner-Up by The American Prize in Orchestral Conducting (college/university division).

Bodony also serves as Artistic Director of the Indianapolis Youth Orchestra, Indiana’s premiere youth orchestra organization and recently named Winner of The American Prize in Orchestral Performance (youth orchestra division) in 2023. Comprised of approximately 200 young musicians from across the state of Indiana and based at the Hilbert Circle Theatre, the Indianapolis Youth Orchestra has performed at Carnegie Hall (2016, 2019, 2022), Orchestra Hall in Chicago (2017), and the Music For All National Festival (2018) under Bodony’s direction.

In 2024, Bodony was named a “40 Under 40” Music Educator by the Yamaha Music Corporation, and in 2013 he was honored with the Beckmann Emerging Artist Award given by the Arts Council of Indianapolis to a young professional with exceptional talent and promise in a given field.