Music Education alum Paul Rudolph (BS '89) wins Illini Comeback Award
Music Education alum Paul Rudolph (BS ’89) won the 2025 Illini Comeback Award, presented by the University of Illinois Alumni Association. Paul has served as the music director, vocal arranger, and composer for Sesame Street, and has won numerous Emmy awards.
About Paul Rudolph:
Paul Rudolph, ’89 FAA, is a musician, composer, arranger, music director, Emmy Award-winner and instrument builder. Since 2008, the Normal, Ill., native has been the vocal arranger and music director for Sesame Street, where he received Emmy nominations for music direction in 2009 and 2013 and won three consecutive Emmys for sound editing from 2016 to 2018. He also composes music for the educational children’s TV series, directs voiceover and looping sessions, records Muppet character and guest vocals and music-directs live performances. His musical guests have included such well-known contemporary artists as Elvis Costello, Jason Mraz, Billy Porter, Sia, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Janelle Monae, Audra McDonald, Usher, Bruno Mars, Jimmy Fallon and the U. S. Marine Corps Band.
From 1997 to 2008, Rudolph worked with commercial composing team Trivers/Myers Music, where he sharpened his conducting skills during sessions with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and top studio musicians. As a percussionist and instrument builder, Rudolph’s unique found-object instruments have been featured in films, TV shows and commercials, and his percussion performance art group, GLANK, has been entertaining audiences since 2002.
Rudolph’s music-industry career began in 1995 with composer and music director Richard Gibbs, assisting him on The Tracey Ullman Show. Commercial and film projects followed, and Rudolph eventually joined Muppets Tonight as its assistant music director, where he met his wife, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph (Sesame Street’s Abby Cadabby). The couple divide their time between Astoria, N.Y., and Glendale, Calif., and have co-produced a CD for Carrara’s children’s play, Wake Up Your Weird.
About the Illini Comeback Award: “Every year, the University of Illinois Alumni Association invite a group of prominent and accomplished alumni back to the campus to participate in various activities during Homecoming Weekend, with a focus on providing opportunities for honorees to interact with current students, sharing information about their professional experiences and the value of their University of Illinois education.” The Illini Comeback Award was established in 1980.
More information about the award can be found here. More about Paul Rudolph can be found here. Paul’s work on Sesame Street can be found here.