Gary E. Ruschman
- Music Department
- Composer
Gary Ruschman earned music degrees with honors from Northern Kentucky University and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, apprenticed at Portland Opera, and has performed across the globe as a vocalist and instrumentalist.
An American Composers Forum grantee and multiple-ASCAP Plus Award recipient, Gary has written music broadcast on C-SPAN, BBC Two, National Public Radio, and American Public Media, and his works have been commissioned and presented by Minnesota Opera, Cantus, Lumina, South Dakota Chorale, the World Lamp Prayer Gathering at Madison Square Garden, the Center for Interfaith Relations' 2018 Festival of Faiths, and Girl Scouts of America. He co-wrote a community oratorio entitled The Call with countertenor Ryland Angel, Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, and jazz accordionist Ben Rosenblum for the University of Minnesota, and his setting of the Heart Sutra has been presented in Bodh Gaya, India in the presence of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.
Gary's discography includes two dozen albums in classical, alt-rock, folk, and jazz genres, including a series of solo records. He founded and leads the new music group Sutra Song Ensemble, which has recorded selections of Dan Wool's score for Phil Tippett's feature Mad God and a series of extended works for the American Buddhist community.
Now an in-demand conductor, composer, choral arranger, and session vocalist, Gary has performed with legends Bobby McFerrin, Doc Severinsen, Marcel Khalife, and Andy Williams, members of OK Go! and Wailin' Jennys, appeared at Birdland, San Francisco Opera, Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Kennedy Center, Boston Pops, Festival Musique en l'Île de Paris, and NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts.
An American Composers Forum grantee and multiple-ASCAP Plus Award recipient, Gary has written music broadcast on C-SPAN, BBC Two, National Public Radio, and American Public Media, and his works have been commissioned and presented by Minnesota Opera, Cantus, Lumina, South Dakota Chorale, the World Lamp Prayer Gathering at Madison Square Garden, the Center for Interfaith Relations' 2018 Festival of Faiths, and Girl Scouts of America. He co-wrote a community oratorio entitled The Call with countertenor Ryland Angel, Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, and jazz accordionist Ben Rosenblum for the University of Minnesota, and his setting of the Heart Sutra has been presented in Bodh Gaya, India in the presence of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.
Gary's discography includes two dozen albums in classical, alt-rock, folk, and jazz genres, including a series of solo records. He founded and leads the new music group Sutra Song Ensemble, which has recorded selections of Dan Wool's score for Phil Tippett's feature Mad God and a series of extended works for the American Buddhist community.
Now an in-demand conductor, composer, choral arranger, and session vocalist, Gary has performed with legends Bobby McFerrin, Doc Severinsen, Marcel Khalife, and Andy Williams, members of OK Go! and Wailin' Jennys, appeared at Birdland, San Francisco Opera, Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Kennedy Center, Boston Pops, Festival Musique en l'Île de Paris, and NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts.