About
Christina Rusnak / Composer/Explorer
Christina Rusnak is passionate about composing about the world around her and the human experience.
My Bio
“By nature, I’m an explorer. That informs all of my endeavors. I love creating connections – ideas, people, place, and music. I believe that music can connect people in ways beyond notes on a page.”
Christina Rusnak is a composer, explorer and cultural catalyst who draws inspiration from the world around her. Passionate about composing about place and the human experience, Rusnak seeks to integrate a sense of context into her music from a variety of sources including landscape, culture, history, ecology and art, she strives to communicate something meaningful about the human experience through music. In that vein, she works to write music that is engaging as well as thought provoking.
Ms. Rusnak’s compositional palette includes chamber ensemble, orchestra, wind band, choral and solo pieces as well as jazz, electro-acoustic works and short film. She is eager to explore new challenges. In addition to composing for the Dallas Contemporary Art Museum, in 2009-10 she created a sound art series as composer-in-residence. In 2010-2011 she served as Executive Director for Orchestra 2001. An avid hiker and cultural geographer, she has been commissioned by the U.S. Forest Service, The National Park Service, and Oregon State Parks with over dozen pieces inspired by experiences in their landscapes. In 2018, Ms. Rusnak was commissioned by Kino-Lorber Films to score a silent film for the Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers series. She worked with cultural groups and tribal communities along the Columbia River to compose Wy’am, musically depicting the oldest continuously inhabited place on the North American continent. Rusnak’s work has been performed by amazing musicians at many festivals and concerts across the country.
A passionate writer and advocate for new music and place, Rusnak’s essays have been published in a variety of sources including New Music Box, Oregon Arts Watch, and the Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music. Ms. Rusnak serves on the board of the International Alliance for Women in Music and on the advisory board of Signal Fire Arts. Her recordings are available through Amazon, Ariel and Parma Recordings, and Naxos. Her music is published by Rusnak Music Press. (Full biography below)
Christina S. Rusnak
BIOGRAPHY
Christina Rusnak is a composer, explorer and cultural catalyst who draws inspiration from the world around her. Passionate about composing about place and the human experience, Rusnak seeks to integrate a sense of context into her music from a variety of sources including landscape, culture, history, ecology and art, she strives to communicate something meaningful about the human experience through music. In that vein, she works to write music that is engaging as well as thought provoking.
Ms. Rusnak’s works include chamber, orchestra, wind band, short film, and solo pieces as well as women’s choir, jazz, electro-acoustic works. She is eager to explore new musical challenges. In addition to composing for the Dallas Contemporary Art Museum, in 2009-10 she created a sound art series as composer-in-residence. In 2010-2011 she served as Executive Director for Orchestra 2001. Ms. Rusnak has also received commissions and performances from talented ensembles and performers including The Chris Klaxton Band, Corvus, Citywater and Third Angle New Music Ensembles, Winona State University Wind Band, the Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra, pianist Jeffrey Jacob and cellist Ovidiu Marinescu. In 2016, she traveled to Cuba as part of the People–to-People program to record with Vocal Luna in Havana.
An avid hiker and cultural geographer, she has been commissioned by the U.S. Forest Service, The National Park Service, and Oregon State Parks with over dozen pieces inspired by experiences in their landscapes. In 2014, She composed Life of Ashes about the ravages of fire for the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, and in 2018, composed a reinterpretation of The Oregon Trail, for the 50th anniversary of the National Scenic Trails and Wild Rivers Acts. Ms. Rusnak was commissioned by Kino-Lorber Films to score the 1913 film, A House Divided, and she worked with cultural groups and tribal communities along the Columbia River to compose Wy’am, musically depicting the oldest continuously inhabited place on the North American continent. Rusnak’s work has been performed across the country including the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, and most recently at the Turn UP Festival in Arizona, the Call of the Wild Arts Festival, and the Festival of New American Music. Most recently, she was selected to direct the renowned Composing in the Wilderness Seminar as part of the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival in July 2019. Upcoming projects include a new wind band piece, and a new choral work.
Originally from an old St. Louis beer family, Ms. Rusnak began composing at age nine. She earned her Master’s degree in Composition and Arts Leadership at the University of North Texas in 2010, and moved to Portland Oregon in 2012. A passionate writer and advocate for new music and place, Rusnak’s essays have been published in New Music Box, Oregon Arts Watch, and the Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music. Christina Rusnak reflects on how composers and performers are “looking at the diverse landscapes in which we live, with their complex human histories and changing values, as the grounds to examine the intersection of place and people—past and present.” (New Music USA 2015-2016 Year in Review). Her intermedia work (film, music, actors) From the Sidewalk, addresses the invisibility of a homeless woman in New York City.
Ms. Rusnak also works with communities and organizations to bring music, and culture into public spaces. In 2016, she presented on Music and Advocacy at the Rural Arts Conference at the University of Iowa. A member of the Landscape Music Composers Network, she serves on the board of the International Alliance for Women in Music and on the advisory board of Signal Fire Arts. Her recordings are available through Amazon, Ariel and Parma Recordings, and Naxos. Her music is published by Rusnak Music Press.
Christina Rusnak
Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
Christina S. Rusnak
Curriculum Vitae
2712 NE 13th Ave
Portland, OR, 97212 971-275-2534 C
Website: http://www.christinarusnak.com csrusnak27@gmail.com
Profile
- A composer whose work reflects a diversity of genres and points of view
- Composes music that is thought provoking & engaging for the performers and audience
- Passionate about composing about place and the human experience, she actively seeks to integrate culture, landscape, history, art and ecology into her sound-world
- An essayist and advocate for New Music, she has written articles for New Music Box, Oregon Arts Watch, Landscapemusic.org, IAWM Journal among others; speaker for the 2016 Rural Arts Conference on Music and Advocacy
- Selected as Oregon Arts Commission and/or Oregon Cultural Trust grants panelist 2015-2017
Education
Master’s in Music Composition; University of North Texas, Denton, Texas; 2010; Studied with David Bithell and Cindy McTee. Post-graduate studies with Jonathan Newman, William Hoshal & Andrea Reinkemeyer
Graduate Certification, Arts Leadership, University of North Texas; 2010
Graduate Certification Cultural Planning and Creative Placemaking, University of British Columbia
Bachelors of Business Administration, Management; University of North Texas
Compositions (abbreviated selection)
Hyas Tyee Temwata Wind Band 2019
Wy’am Flute, Piccolo, Clarinet, Fr. Horn, Bass, Percussion Quartet, 2018
Oregon Trail Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Percussion, 2018
The Coast in Winter Grade 1 Wind Band, Grade 3 Viola Solo
Contemplation. Piano Solo, 2018
A House Divided Viola, Piano, 2018
Tundra Tapestry Trio: Flute, Clarinet, Violin, 2017, Version 2: Flute, English Horn, Cello, 2018
Passage Orchestra, 2017
Querido Difunto Women’s Choir (Translated into Spanish), 2017
Queridos Amados Women’s Choir (Translated into Spanish), 2017
Glacier Blue Cello Solo, 2017
Le Jardin Perdu Piano, 2016 (Revised)
Dearly Departed Women’s Choir, 2016
The Way Through Violins, Cello, Clarinet, Marimba, 2015
The Mountain Within String Orchestra, 2015
The Life of Ashes Flute, Viola, Percussion, 2014
Canyon Voices Flute, Clarinet/Bass Clarinet, Violin, Cello, & Percussion 2014
Coal Creek 2 violins, Bass Clarinet, Marimba, 2013
Teklanika Chamber Orchestra; & Oboe, 2 Violins, Piano, 2013
Going Rogue French Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, 2013
FREE LAND Percussion, Flute, Violin, Cello, Trumpet, 2012
Sequence: 3,4,5 Percussion, Flute, Clarinet, Trombone, VC, 2011
Dearly Beloved Women’s Choir, 2011
161 Glass Percussion Quartet + Clarinet & Trombone, 2011
HighLine Piano, Clarinet and Bass, 2009
Dusk Violin, Clarinet Piano (also Piano Solo), 2008
JARS Large Chamber Ensemble, 2008
FEAR: Unspoken Geography Tape (Voice with Ambient Sounds), 2008
Chill Piano, Clarinet and Bass, 2007
Fanfare Trumpet-2, Tombone-2, Tuba, 2007
White Rock Morning Tape, 2006
Kyripo Piano, 2006
Performances (abbreviated selection)
Oregon Trail, mvmt 1 TurnUP Festival, Tucson, AZ, March 2018
Glacier Blue, Portland, OR March 2018
A House Divided Kino Lorber Films, November Release
Oregon Trail, mvmt 1 FeNAM, Sacramento CA, September 2018
Oregon Trail mvmt 3 Portland OR, October 2018
Oregon Trail, mvmt 1 Houghton MI, October 2018
Oregon Trail mvmt 3. Atlanta GA, September 2018
Oregon Trail, mvmt 1 Vallejo, CA, September 2018
Tundra Tapestry Portland OR, May 2018
Glacier Blue Houghton MI, December 2017
Tundra Tapestry Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, July 2017
Coal Creek Portland, OR, May 2017
Glacier Blue Portland, OR, April 2017
The Life of Ashes Intertwine, Portland OR, October 2016
White Rock Morning Eugene Oregon, January 2016
The Way Through Portland Oregon, November 2015
Going Rogue Portland Oregon, November 2014
Chat Portsmouth NH, Parma Music Festival, August 2014
The Life of Ashes Hood River, OR, August 2014
The Life of Ashes Umpqua Vally Arts, Roseburg OR, August 2014
Adrianna Portland Oregon, November 2013
Teklanika Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, July 2013
FEAR: Unspoken Geography UC Fullerton, CA New Music Festival, March 2013 “Voice in the 21st Century
Flow Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, July 2012
161 Glass – Dallas Contemporary Museum
Mv. 3, Confluence, April 2011
Mv. 2, Light Matters, October 2010
Mv. 1, The Floor, March 2010
White Rock Morning Denton Texas, October 2010
Unspoken Geography Dallas Contemporary Museum, March 2010
Recordings
Le Jardin Perdue – Ariel Records 2018. Performed by Jeffrey Jacobs
Dearly Departed, Dearly Beloved – Ansonica Records / Parma Recordings, 2016. Sung by Vocal Luna @ Abdala Studios
Chat Chill, HighLine – Big Round Records / Parma Recordings, 2014. Performed by LA Jazz @ Studio City Sound
Kyripo – Navona Records / Parma Recordings, 2012. Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra
Cloudburst – ERM Records, 2007. Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra
Commissions, Residencies, and Workshops
2019 Directed Composing in the Wilderness Seminar: Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival; Denali National Park
2019 TURN UP Festival, Tucson Arizona, Oregon Trail
2018 Festival of New American Music, Oregon Trail
2018 Visions of the Wild Festival, Oregon Trail performed as part of the Landscape Music Rivers and Trails Concert Series
2018 Oregon Bach Festival, Composer Symposium, Free Land, Mvmt 1
2017 KINO FILMS: Commission to compose for 1913 film, “A House Divided”
2017 Composing in the Wilderness: Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival; Denali & Yukon Charley, Tundra Tapestry
2016 Third Angle New Music Ensemble, Glacier Blue
2016 Rural Arts: University of IOWA Music as Advocacy for our Rural Places October 2016
2016 INTERTWINE ALLIANCE: Music, Advocacy and participation in our Region’s Natural Public Spaces, October 2016
2015 Marylhurst University: Composing for Wilderness Presentation
2014 North Cascades National Park: Residency; composed The Way Through
2014 Mount Adams Wilderness: Commission to commemorate the 1964 Wilderness Act, Life of Ashes
2013 Oregon State Parks: Commission for Cottonwood Canyon State Park, Canyon Voices
2013 12th Annual CSUF New Music Festival: Voice in the 21st Century, FEAR
2012-13 Composing in the Wilderness: Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, Flow
2012 Homestead National Monument: Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Homestead Act, Free Land
2009-10 Dallas Contemporary Museum: Commission for opening of New Art Space, 161 Glass
Publications
Landscape Music, Rivers and Trails, November 2018, IAWM Journal, Volume 24, No. 2
Composing the Oregon Trail, September 2018
http://landscapemusic.org/essays/composing-the-oregon-national-historic-trail/
Widening Inclusion & Visibility Of Women In Music, May 2018
http://jazzednet.org/resources/widening_inclusion/
Composing in the Wilderness, August 2017
http://www.orartswatch.org/composing-in-the-wilderness-1-tundra-tapestry/
Commissioning Landscape Music, July 2017
http://landscapemusic.org/essays/commissioning-landscape-music/
Solo Hikes: March 2017, Third Angle Buzz
http://thirdangle.org/buzz/buzz/solo-hikes-and-glacier-blue/535/
A Report from Cuba, November 2016, IAWM Journal, Volume 22, No. 2
Landscape Music, September 2, 2016, Oregon Arts Watch
http://www.orartswatch.org/landscape-music/
Music, Travel and the New Music Gathering, May 2016, IAWM Journal, Volume 22, No. 1
New Music and Place: Creating Community, April 25, 2016, New Music Box,
http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/new-music-and-place-creating-community/
Composing Advocacy: Social Voices, April 19, 2016, New Music Box,
http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/composing-advocacy-social-voices/
Money, Support and the Voice of New Music, April 13, 2016, New Music Box,
http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/money-support-and-the-voice-of-new-music/
New Music as Advocacy for Place, April 4, 2016, New Music Box,
http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/new-music-as-advocacy-for-place/
Cascadia’s Women Composers, Crazy Jane, November 2015, IAWM Journal, Volume 21, #2
Composing Landscape Music, July 2015,
http://landscapemusic.org/essays/composing-landscape-music/
Landscape Music as Advocacy, June 2015,
http://landscapemusic.org/essays/landscape-music-as-advocacy/
161 Glass: Site Specific Music in an Artistic Context, Masters’Thesis; Three movement percussion quartet and the study of site specific music in an urban environment. Commissioned for the new Dallas Contemporary art space in 2010
Reconstructing Presence: Human Geography of Brent Phelps’ “On the Trail of Lewis and Clark”, Wandering Scholars, January 2009
50 @ 50: 50 Hikes @ 50 Places of Culture, Essays exploring the integration of physical geography and human and artistic culture; August 2010 – Present
Professional Affiliations (abbreviated selection)
Chamber Music America
Cascadia Composers (NACUSA northwest chapter)
College Band Directors National Assn. (CBDNA)
International Alliance for Women in Music – Executive Board
Landscape Music Composers’ Network
League of American Orchestras
Signal Fire Arts (Board member)
Other Experience
Switchback Group (formerly Christina Rusnak Consulting) 2013-Present
Independent Culture and Arts consulting: working with communities and organizations to bring music, and culture into public and environmental spaces. Activities include, Music Curating, Organizational Development, Strategic and Tactical Planning, Interim Executive Management; Cultural Community Planning
Orchestra 2001, Interim Executive Director, 2010-2011
Dallas Contemporary Museum, Sound Art Curator, 2010
What I love to do
When, while the lovely valley teems with vapour around me, and the meridian sun strikes the upper surface of the impenetrable foliage of my trees, and but a few stray gleams steal into the inner sanctuary, I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream; and, as I lie close to the earth.
1789
Working
Hours
8965
Hiking Miles
Be fluid. Treat each project differently. Be water, man. The best style is no style. Because styles can be figured out.
Contact Info
Get a hold of me or ask me a question.