Meet Ruston Ropac | Soprano & Composer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ruston Ropac and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ruston, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Sometimes putting yourself out there is terrifying. I’ve definitely gotten nervous before when reaching out with cold e-mails, or introducing myself and pitching projects to potential collaborators or artists whose work I admire. Sometimes I am afraid of being seen as overly forward. However, I would rather have tried than done nothing at all. The worst that can happen is nothing, or that I hear back “no.”

I’m currently writing a one-woman opera for myself and electronics which touches on some sensitive, complex topics. A part of me fears a potential negative audience reaction, but I carry on, albeit making sure to do lots of research and handle the subjects with care and respect. Why? Because this is a story I strongly believe needs to be told.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m a soprano and composer who was born and raised in Southern California, but moved to New York City in 2015 and has been there ever since. As a performer, I specialize in contemporary and early music, though I’ve performed everything from opera to pop. As a composer, I have written instrumental chamber music, short film music, and art songs, and I specialize in writing short operas, both as composer and librettist. I am strongly rooted in the sense of being a composer-performer; I see my two disciplines as symbiotic, always learning from each other.

I started out as a singer, singing in choirs and taking voice and piano lessons from the age of 11, before going to my close-to-home undergrad, the University of Redlands, to study Vocal Performance. My professors there, including my voice teacher Dr. Melissa Tosh and my theory/composition professor Dr. Anthony Suter, were wonderfully encouraging of my interests, and I became interested in composing after writing short pieces of music in my theory classes. This led to me becoming a double major in voice and music composition. Through performing the works of my colleagues at our composers’ concerts, I realized that I really loved performing chamber music, something I hadn’t often yet been able to do as a singer. I loved the intimacy of working with friends to put together a work of chamber music, and I loved singing contemporary music, replete with extended vocal techniques, non-traditional sonorities, and expressive power.

As a composer, I found that setting my own texts came very naturally. I had been an amateur poet for years, usually writing as a way to vent or process feelings. I wrote several art songs based on my own texts before writing my first libretto. I married my two disciplines in my culminating senior project: ‘The Birthmark’, a chamber opera for two voices and piano with a libretto that I adapted from the short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

I had always loved and felt an affinity for New York City, and the second time I ever got to visit it I made a vow to someday move there. I also knew I wanted to study with Lucy Shelton in the Contemporary Performance master’s program at the Manhattan School of Music, which focused on chamber music. When I got the offer to study there, I packed up and moved across the country to immerse myself in the two-year-program, during which I also began gigging as a choral ringer around the city and taking extracurricular courses in composition and acting. It was with Lucy that I really learned how to dig into a score, analyzing every inch of it with attention to detail. I learned how to learn music quickly so that I could focus on being expressive and making art in a performance. My culminating project was my second opera for myself, a comedic micro-opera called ‘My Conscience is Showing!’ where I played three characters all at odds with each other.

However, the realities of trying to build a career as a professional musician in New York City began to hit me the moment I was out of school. While in grad school, I had taken two internships in arts administration in the hopes of landing an arts admin job to get me on my feet and close to music while looking for performance work. Unfortunately, after many a job application and several unsuccessful interviews, I was still unemployed months after graduation. I was burning through my savings fast, living all the way across the country with no work. I started working retail jobs to get by. At my first store, I was lucky enough to have a Broadway actor as my manager, one who was supportive of my performing. I then landed my first church gig at a place where I normally subbed, one which had a robust historical performance program that nurtured my growing love of early music. My second retail job, though, was grueling and exhausting, and gigs were sparse. I went through a lot of hardship in my personal life during that time, as well.

Things began to look up in my second year out of grad school. I finally landed a coveted job in arts administration, as a publicity associate at an artist manager’s office. More performing opportunities began coming my way, including concerts I booked and programmed myself. Some things in life were still looking up, but I felt like I was finally building a niche for myself. Then COVID hit, and the concert halls went dark.

During COVID, even though I lost a lot of work and income from which I have not fully recovered, something remarkable happened. The people I had worked with and contacts I had made began reaching out to me to (safely) perform and record music because I had stayed in the city. As vaccines rolled out and the years marched on, I began to pick up more performance opportunities through recommendations and word-of-mouth. I began teaching voice remotely, and started being mentored as part of TENET Vocal Artists’ mentorship program for emerging early musicians. I began performing with the BlackBox Ensemble, recording our debut CD and travelling to workshops together. I sang at National Sawdust twice, created the role of the Princess in the world premiere of Jed Bolipata’s opera ‘The Wages of Sin,’ and recently debuted with the Albany Symphony as one of two soprano soloists with its contemporary sinfonietta, Dogs of Desire. Through mentors I began working with during COVID, I began working on my third opera, ‘a crimson c(h)ord.’ This work is an emotional and spiritual musical journey retracing my family history along my father’s Croatian heritage, and examining its ramifications and meanings in contemporary America. Things still aren’t easy, but I in the past few years I feel like I’ve grown a lot both as an artist and a person, and I look forward to what could come in the future.

The biggest thing I’ve learned is that even though I have a lot of natural vulnerability and sensitivity, for me it is a strength, not a weakness. There were many times in which I had to be resilient, to grit my teeth and keep fighting, and I only could because I gave myself space to cry and acknowledge how hard I was trying. Furthermore, vulnerability is a gift that allows me to create complex characters and space for there emotions, whether acting out an aria or writing one. It has helped me navigate professional relationships and contribute to the collaborative spirit of a chamber ensemble. I am thankful for it.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’d definitely be taking them on my morning walks alongside the Hudson river, both through Riverside Park and along the riverfront pathways. They’re a great way to start the day, get fresh air, and rejuvenate oneself for the work ahead. I’d take them to see a contemporary opera, either at the Met or one of the many smaller companies around town. We’d also go on a tour of independent and used bookstores around town, preferably with cups of Kuro Kuma coffee in our hands- yes, I do still have a sweet spot for my old grad school coffee haunt. Art museums and galleries are also a must. I often go alone, and would much rather take a friend!
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
First of all, I have to give a hearty shoutout to my family, who have had my back throughout my entire artistic journey, and have put their trust in me to do something meaningful with my work. I then have to thank my mentors: my voice teachers, composition professors, coaches, choir directors, conductors, my boss, and every other mentoring figure in my life who has believed in me and encouraged me to keep going when times got tough.

Website: https://www.rustonropacmusic.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rustiology/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rustonropacmusic

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuflPFu2HZgEsUEWleuZ4Dg/featured

Image Credits
Adam Anik Ashley Chui Brian Hatton