gary ruschman | presskit

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Varied Playlist

Opera and Concert Playlist

Conducting Press:

"Music director Gary Ruschman juxtaposes Mozart's music with dance music from the 1990s, and he also conducts and plays in the small ensemble of instrumentalists. The flow between music styles is seamless, shifting between old and new often within the same musical number...This interspersing of hit songs you may know well if you happen to be in a certain age bracket will have you giggling, and that's a testament to Ruschman's clever arrangement."- Sheila Regan, St. Paul Pioneer Press (Mixed Precipitation's Pickup Truck Opera Volume 2: The Magic Flute)

"Monteverdi's opera premiered in 1640 and was considered a bridge between Renaissance and baroque periods, while Dolly's songs have a timeless quality yet always feel fresh as a daisy. Music director Gary Ruschman makes the disparate pieces feel at home together and provides a steady core on guitar." - Talkin' Broadway (Mixed Precipitation's Pickup Truck Opera Volume 1: The Odyssey)

"...Even if you're not an opera fan, there's plenty here to entertain you. If you are, then you'll likely love the choruses that the full cast shapes so beautifully when the tempos slow. The production's music director is Gary Ruschman, a longtime member of male vocal group Cantus, and I don't recall a prior picnic operetta that handled harmonies with such care and commitment. His reverence for Mozart's music is clear, balanced by his guitar work while wearing one of those ridiculous late-'70s Devo hats that look like a collapsible cup." --Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press/TwinCities.com (Mixed Precipitation's The Clemency of Tito's Tennis Club)

"The singers are accompanied by three busy live musicians who play a wide array of instruments (at least seven, by my count) in an even wider array of styles. Led by music director and arranger Gary Ruschman, they remain undaunted while shifting from Mozart to Pat Benatar and Yaz and back." --Karen Bovard, Broadway World (Mixed Precipitation's The Clemency of Tito's Tennis Club

"In addition to the operatic arias, accompanied by music director Gary Ruschman's eclectic band, there are a few Springsteen songs in keeping with the play's proletarian themes. "Blinded By the Light" turns into a jubilant finale, and a rendition of "My Hometown" by Leif Hove and Joni Griffith (who's also the MVP of the show's acting corps) is quietly haunting." --CityPages (Mixed Precipitation's Dr. Falstaff and the Working Wives of Lake County)

"Music director Gary Ruschman leads four other musicians to provide accompaniment that has an agreeably homespun sound...The ensemble members play various smaller roles, and join in the choral numbers, especially impressing with a lovely Mondaufgang Chor: O susser Mond --Talkin' Broadway (Mixed Precipitation's Dr. Falstaff and the Working Wives of Lake County)

"The large and diverse cast are all a joy to watch, so playful and present in this unconventional setting of the great outdoors. The music is lovely and fun, accompanied by a classic quartet of cello, violin, guitar, and accordion (music directed by Gary Ruschman)". --Cherry and Spoon (Haydn's Philemon und Baucis, Mixed Precipitation's Picnic Operetta

"precise, resonant singing by an 11-member chorus [prepared by chorusmaster Gary Ruschman]" --Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice 2015 Twin Cities Early Music Festival)

Performance Acclaim:

"terrific" -- Mpls.St.Paul Magazine (Covers)

"Funny and Fresh-Voiced"--San Francisco Chronicle (Berkeley Opera's Legend of the Ring)

"Vocally brilliant"--San Francisco Classical Voice (West Edge Opera's Return of Ulysses)

"Among many, the most moving highlight might be the solo of Gary Ruschman"-- Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Theatre Latte-Da's All is Calm)

"Bliss...on my list of go-see-agains, and if tenor Gary Ruschman wants to come to my house before then and sing a few songs I'm good with that." --Pamela Espeland, Bebopified (Cantus with Bobby McFerrin)

"earthy interjections...sung by tenor Gary Ruschman, whose performance is a little masterpiece of comic vocalism and neat timing" --Minneapolis Star Tribune (Consortium Carissimi's Il Tirinto)

"It's a milestone moment for me," said Ruschman, whose rendition of "O Holy Night" was an "All Is Calm" highlight." --Minneapolis Star Tribune

Composing/Arranging Press:

"... The opening bars of [Ruschman's] "Run On,"...simply jaw dropping. --Cinemusical (South Dakota Chorale's in Paradisum)

"This year's Pickup Truck Operetta is a fractured version of The Magic Flute, and it's the company's best effort yet...The bare-bones arrangements, worked out by music director Gary Ruschman, for two violins, a guitar, a cello, a flute, and percussion are perfectly matched with the show's scrappy playfulness." --Talkin' Broadway (Mixed Precipitation's Pickup Truck Opera Volume 2: The Magic Flute)

"...Gary Ruschman (who manned the bass guitar when he wasn't singing lead) fashioned a cool jazz take on "Baby, Now That I've Found You" by British invasion soulsters the Foundations, allowing Dave Hagedorn and Lee Blaske to swing on the vibes and electric piano, respectively." --Saint Paul Pioneer Press (Cantus Covers)

"...Paul Rudoi and Gary Ruschman's arrangement of America's "Horse With No Name" was an improvement on the original, wedding those baffling lyrics to a cool jazz dreamscape." --Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Cantus Covers)

"...arrangements in this compilation of American sacred music are imaginative but not too flashy, their balance is perfectly tempered, their sound as pure as baptismal waters...stirring entries such as [Ruschman's] Run On..." --Opera News (Cantus' That Eternal Day)

"[Ruschman's] surprisingly powerful take on Led Zeppelin's Kashmir...it was the concert's most compelling arrangement." --TwinCities.com/Pioneer Press (Cantus Covers)