Located in: Features
Posted on: January 27th, 2014 No Comments

Stage set for Grammy-winning CMU professor


,

Photo by Chris Clark

Dr. Kathleen Ruhleder’s career history is almost as wide-ranging and impressive as her voice.

Before she became CMU’s Associate Director of Opera three years ago, Ruhleder was an instructor at Prestige Music Academy and Glendale Community College, both in Glendale, Ariz.

And before that, the mezzo-soprano was an integral part of the Phoenix Chorale, a chamber choir that won a 2009 Grammy for its CD, Spotless Rose, on which Ruhleder sang.

But don’t let the Grammy intimidate you. When she decided to pursue a college degree in music, Ruhleder says she was constantly reminded by others that to go into music would be to ensure a lifetime of unemployment or poorly paying jobs.

“The most I’ve ever worked is eight part time jobs, and let me tell you, it’s crazy to keep track of that,” Ruhleder said. “But it’s also so much fun because you’re going from preschool music teaching to voice lessons at the community college and then to opera chorus rehearsal that night, and then the next day is completely different.”

In addition to working with world-class vocalists and musicians, Ruhleder has also instructed and shared her voice with people of all ages and backgrounds, from kindergartners to the elderly.

“When you’re a musician and you have one of these degrees that sends you into public school teaching or university teaching, you kind of need to be a jack of all trades,” she said.

Just as she stretches and adjusts her singing voice to best fit the situation (an operatic solo versus an ensemble song, for example), Ruhleder applies her well-honed skills in a variety of settings and situations.

In the coming weeks, for example, Ruhleder and members of an early music ensemble at CMU will be visiting students at Chipeta Elementary School to teach them about music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, even donning costumes appropriate of the era and bringing early musical instruments to show the children how they differ from modern musical instruments.

“[It’s about] exposing them to something they might really enjoy that they won’t necessarily get exposed to in their elementary school music program,” Ruhleder said of the upcoming visit. “There’s probably a few kids who just think this is the coolest thing they’ve ever heard, and they’re going to, at some point, go out there and learn more about it.”

For a more mature audience interested in classical operatic pieces, Ruhleder will showcase her sweetly booming voice for the first Music at Mesa Faculty Recital of the year on Friday, Jan. 31, in the Moss Performing Arts Center Recital Hall.

The mezzo-soprano will be joined by CMU alum Allyson Connally, soprano, CMU music instructor Chris McKim, baritone, and Kathryn Mientka on the piano. Ruhleder and Connally will perform a duet from the opera Lakmé, and McKim will join them in performing a trio from the French opera Zémir et Azor.

Besides performances by the local High Desert Opera, Ruhelder says recitals such as these are one of the few ways local opera lovers can get their fix. However, she will be directing two short operas that are to show the first weekend of April in the Mesa Experimental Theatre.

“We’re trying to do more staged works with our [opera] students,” Ruhelder said. “As a singer, we’re really guided by the words and the meaning and emotion of the words. And trying to communicate that is the main goal.”

cblackme@mavs.coloradomesa.edu

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

New User? Click here to register