News

New Jazz CD

July 9, 2008

Chris Rutkowski is recording a new CD with vocalist Heather Ramsay for commercial release in the fall of 2008. The studio is Airtime in Bloomington, IN, and features bassist Frank Smith and drummer Kenny Phelps.

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listen to selected rough mixes

Rutkowski Joins Faculty of College of Wooster

July 3, 2008

Chris Rutkowski has joined the Music Department at The College of Wooster, Wooster OH. As Visiting Assistant Professor of Music, he will teach music theory, composition and jazz piano.

First Saxophone Concerto Premier

March 27, 2008

The Concerto for Saxophone and Wind Ensemble began its year-long series of premiers by commission consortium members at the Jacobs School of Music (Indiana University, Bloomington) on March 25. Peter Jacobi, classical music critic of the Bloomington Herald-Times, awarded the piece "special plaudits for the imagination displayed in its content (and) the craftsmanship manifested in the orchestration..."

read the review
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Indiana Arts Commission Grant

June 25, 2007

The Indiana Arts Commission awarded Chris Rutkowski a Project Grant as part of its Individual Artists Program. The funds will support the development of a home studio for the creation of electronic music and multi-media. The central project will be the composition and realization of a work for computer and violin for Prof. Davis Brooks of Butler University (see below).

Saxophone Concerto Consortium Commission

March 25, 2007

The Wind Ensembles of Truman State University (Daniel Petersen, Dir.) and the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho (Alan Gemberling, Dir.) have joined the consortium to commission a Concerto for Saxophone and Wind Ensemble. Three prior members of the consortium include the Wind Ensembles of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, Emory University and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The Commission Coordinator is saxophonist Thomas Walsh of Indiana University. Those interested in joining the consortium can contact the coordinator by email.

The Concerto for Saxophone and Wind Ensemble will begin its year-long series of premiers with the following performances:

March 25, 2008
Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. Thomas Walsh, alto saxophone, Stephen Pratt, Dir. of IU Wind Ensemble.

April 19, 2008
North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference, University of South Carolina, Columbia. Arrangement for piano and saxophone. Thomas Walsh, alto saxophone

Fall, 2008 (date TBA)
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (Glenn Hayes, Dir.) Matthew Sintchak, soloist.

Fall, 2008 (date TBA)
Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho (Alan Gemberling, Dir.) Vanessa Sielert, soloist

Fall, 2008 (date TBA)
Truman State University (Daniel Petersen, Dir.) Randall A. Smith, soloist.

Fall, 2008 (date TBA)
Emory University (Scott Stewart, Dir.)

Chris Rutkowski will compose a substantial work for computer and violin for Davis Brooks, Prof of Violin at Butler University, as part of a CD recording project. Technologies to be utilized are MAX/msp, Pro Tools, and Reason, among others. Both Rutkowski's home studio and Butler's studios will be used.

Recent and Upcoming Performances

Saxophonist Thomas Walsh Plans Commercial Recording

Thomas Walsh (Prof. of Saxophone at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University) has recorded the newly revised Dervish for saxophone quartet (Bloomington, December, 2006) for a CD to be released commercially. The working title for the CD will be Intersections, and will feature works that blend musical traditions, meeting at the focus of the classical saxophone.

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