Marjorie
Rusche

Marjorie Rusche

Marjorie M. Rusche is an internationally performed award winning composer who combines romantic, modernist, and vernacular influences. Dr. Rusche composes for opera, music theater, dance, orchestra, chorus, and a variety of soloists and chamber ensembles. She has taught music composition, orchestration, music theory and piano at the University of Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, IU South Bend and Colombia College Chicago. She earned her D.M. in Music Composition from the Jacobs School of Music IU-Bloomington, and her M.A. in Music from UM-Minneapolis.

www.marjorierusche.com

http://marjoriemrusche.bandcamp.com

Media

Video

COMMENTS

a short song cycle of soprano and piano

Video

SONGS OF LOVE AND DEATH

II. An Irish Airman Foresees His Death

www.marjorierusche.com

http://marjoriemrusche.bandcamp.com

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Career Highlights/Education

Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

DM, Music Composition

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Schedule

Recent Highlights

OUR AMERICAN ODYSSEY

I am the composer/librettist.

South Bend Lyric Opera

Event Information

OUR AMERICAN ODYSSEY

September 22, 2023 - September 23, 2023

Description

OPEN AUDITIONS FOR NEW OPERA: OUR AMERICAN ODYSSEY

Searching for Principal Roles, Covers, and Choristers

Rehearsals start 2 weeks before the opening, there is modest compensation, we are asking people to send mp3s of audition excerpts to Emanuel and Marjorie by JANUARY 15, 2023 at these email addresses:

ecaraman@iu.edu
mmrusche@gmail.com

Please contact Marjorie for the audition excerpts (mmrusche@gmail.com)

OUR AMERICAN ODYSSEY

Marjorie M. Rusche, composer/librettist
Hannah McDermott and Laurel Thomas, text contributors

On September 22 and September 23, 2023 the South Bend Lyric Opera will be producing a piano-vocal production of my opera OUR AMERICAN ODYSSEY. We are currently auditioning for principals, covers and choristers. Place projected to be Joshi Recital Hall at IUSB or possibly at LangLab. It will be video recorded; and I ultimately will be sending excerpts and/or the full piano-vocal work to various opera companies to lobby for a full orchestral production.

OUR AMERICAN ODYSSEY is inspired by Homer's THE ODYSSEY and the currents of our time, blending the worlds of mythological and modern men and women.

Odysseus journeys from an ancient world of battle to become a Wall Street profiteer who slays the monster Cyclops on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. He then journeys to Circe's Malibu Spiritual Retreat and Calypso's Cayman Island luxury resort before he returns to his true home. Penelope, while beset with grief for the loss of Odysseus, heroically strategizes to get rid of the harassing suitors led by the bully Antinous, telepathically reconnects with Odysseus in Circe’s Malibu Spiritual Retreat, and aids her fiber arts studio assistant Clea with her immigration issues. Reunited, Penelope and Odysseus vow to rebuild a safe, loving home and flourishing society in Ithaca (aka America).

With Two Acts and seven scenes, the opera runs around 90 minutes (not counting intermission).

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:

Penelope, fiber artist, loyal wife of Odysseus -- soprano (C4-B5, five scenes)
Odysseus, stockbroker, wandering warrior husband of Penelope -- tenor (Eb3-B4, five scenes)
Cyclops, monster/Antinous, suitor’s ringleader -- bass-baritone (G2-E4, 3 scenes)
Circe, New Age Malibu Spiritual Retreat entrepreneur -- soprano (E4-Db6, one scene)
Calypso, Cayman Islands resort owner -- mezzo soprano (A3-A5, one scene)
Clea, immigrant, Penelope’s studio assistant -- mezzo soprano (A#3-G#5, two scenes)
SATB Chorus
Orchestra (eventually)

Contributors

Marjorie Rusche

I am the composer/librettist.

Sep 22, 2023 - Sep 23, 2023

Dates

Sep, 23

Mary Martin

Penelope

Oct 20, 2023

1 Tag

Dates

Oct, 23

Biography

Marjorie M. Rusche is an internationally performed award winning contemporary classical composer who combines romantic, modernist, and vernacular influences in her music. Dr. Rusche composes for opera, music theater, orchestra, chorus, a variety of vocal and instrumental chamber ensembles, soloists, dance, and theatre.

The Gamboling Girl, a South Bend Symphony Orchestra commission, premiered 1/9/2022. Commissioned by oboist Jennet Ingle, Dreams and Visions (Searching the Shadows) for oboe, viola, and piano, premiered 1/26/2020 with subsequent performances throughout northwestern IN and southwestern MI in Feb. and March 2020. Songs of Love and Death for soprano and piano premiered 3/6/2020 on the Fourth Annual International Music by Women Festival, Mississippi University for Women, Columbus, MS.; song cycle excerpts were premiered 3/7/2014 on a New York City Underworld Productions Opera CrossCURRENT concert. She was a guest composer 3/2/2013 with Musica Reginae Productions, New York City and was honored as a guest composer at the 13th London New Music for Winds Festival, 11/19/2010, in London, England. Her compositions have been performed live and on radio in Amsterdam, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, San Francisco, Vienna, Denmark, Kenya, Spain, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, and Wisconsin, her birth state.

Awards and commissions include: 2021-2022 South Bend Symphony Orchestra commission; 2019-2020 chamber work commission (with partial funding support from the Indiana Arts Commission); 2018 & 2017 Indiana Arts Commission grant for Creativity Workshops through the Arts in the Parks and Historic Sites program; 2016-2017 University of Notre Dame Children’s Choir Commission; 2016 Calliopes’ Call International Composition Competition Honorable Mention; 2015-2016 Indiana Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship – Music Composition; 2015 University of Notre Dame Chorale; 2015-2016 Masterworks Chorale, Muncie, IN; 2014 South Bend Chamber Singers; 2013-2014 and 2012-2013 Music Composition Professional Development Faculty Grants, Indiana University South Bend; 2012 Music Composition Commission from USA Projects, Artists2Artists Fund, USA Open Matching Fund, Cheswatyr Music Commissioning Fund (American Composers Forum) and 30 individual donors; 2012 Associate Faculty Merit Status, Indiana University South Bend; 2011 Stickley Foundation Grant for Music Composition; 2011 Curriculum Development Grant, Indiana University; 2010 Associate Faculty Travel Grant, Indiana University South Bend; 2010-2011 IU South Bend Center for a Sustainable Future Sustainability Fellow; Columbia College Chicago Follett Fellowship; Saint Mary’s College Women’s Choir commission; Portland, OR Regional Arts Commission grant; Indiana Music Teachers Association Convention Commission; South Bend Symphony Orchestra; the American Music Center’s Margaret Fairbank Jory Copying Assistance Program, New York City; DuPage Chorale/American Composers Forum-Chicago Chapter; Stickley Foundation Opera Commission Award, South Bend, IN; Indiana State Arts Board Individual Composer Fellowship; Meet The Composer-Midwest; the Jerome Foundation, St. Paul, MN; the American Chamber Opera Company, New York City; Gotham Ensemble, New York City; Meet The Composer-New York Composer Performance Fund Award; Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, IN; McKnight Foundation Fellowship in Music Composition, St. Paul, MN; Minnesota State Arts Board Individual Artist Fellowship in Music Composition; Minnesota Composers Forum Demo Tape Grant; the Schubert Club, St. Paul, MN; Minnesota Composers Forum/Jerome Foundation Composers Commissioning Program Award; Skylight Comic Opera Theater, Milwaukee, WI; DANCECIRCUS, Milwaukee, WI and yearly ASCAP Standard Awards.

Dr. Rusche is affiliated with ASCAP, New Music USA, Opera America, College Music Society, and is a charter member of the American Composers Forum (aka Minnesota Composers Forum).

She currently teaches or has taught music composition, orchestration, opera history, music theory, form & analysis, music history, and piano at Indiana University South Bend, the University of Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, Colombia College Chicago and Southwestern Michigan College. She also taught in Kenya while serving in the U.S. Peace Corps. She earned her D.M. in Music Composition from the Jacobs School of Music Indiana University-Bloomington, and her M.A. in Music Composition & Theory from the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis.

Please view http://marjoriemrusche.bandcamp.com for audio files of her music compositions.

Press Quotes

"PRESS: Dreams and Visions (Searching the Shadows) for oboe, viola, piano . . . “Rusche’s ability to summon spiritual energies in her compositions.” (Ingle) . . . “We wanted to present a female creative consciousness.” (Rusche) -- both quoted by Jack Walton, Tribune Correspondent, South Bend Tribune, February 2020. This article re-published in the International Double Reed Society Quarterly Journal The Double Reed, Vol. 43, No. 2 (2020). Eclipse and Piano Portraits: Nightwatch (piano solos) . . . “It’s music just as wonderful as you can hear in Manhattan, or anywhere else, and obviously we heard that here tonight.” -- Randall Horton quoted by Andrew Shilling, Arts Writer for Queens Ledger, Forest Hills Times, Greenpoint Star, New York City press, March 2013 Eclipse (piano solo) . . . a particularly evocative piece -- Rusche conjures extremes of sunlight and darkness, then the moon's shadow hiding the sun's light, finally resolving into an embodiment of the sun's renewed brilliance . . . In 'Eclipse Rusche has managed to write a complicated intellectual piece while still presenting a pleasant, highly listenable musical narrative. -- Jack Walton, South Bend Tribune, February 2010 Dreaming the Ragwaltz Blues (piano concerto) . . . “The powerful melodies told a story ending in a whisper of silence.” -- Marcia C. Porter, South Bend Tribune, April 2003 Fanfare for the Millennium (full orchestra) . . . “an international flavor, combining folk- inspired melodies, vigorous percussion and sometimes playful exchanges between sections of the orchestra . . .. accessible and echoing with recognizable motives.” – Julie York, South Bend Tribune, April 2000 She Stoops to Conquer (chamber opera) . . . “Moments of dramatic revelation play in counterpoint to tightly crafted comedic scenes . . . Rusche’s instrumental accompaniment sets the tone for each scene . . . ‘I wanted a variety of textures on stage – musical textures, dramatic textures, emotional textures,’ Rusche said.” -- Julie York, South Bend Tribune, May 1999 Goddess Songs (choral dance opera) . . . “musical exploration of the mythology of seven Greek goddesses . . . The evocative text, by Rusche, creates images of each goddess, poetic yet emphasizing the feminine as it most clearly resonates with modern concerns about love, desire and relationship. The music is dramatically apt, at ease with the text, and heartfelt.” – Mike Steele, Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 1996 "

Marjorie
Rusche

Marjorie
Rusche