“HEAR & NOW: Creating a place with music” is a gift to the community from Central Oregon-based professional musicians Gary Ruppert, piano and Ryan Zwahlen, flute and oboe. The concert is free with donations gratefully welcomed. All proceeds benefit Sunriver Music Festival’s Steinway Piano Fund.
This concert of beautiful programmatic music is 2pm Saturday, January 20 at Sunriver Christian Fellowship, 18139 Cottonwood Road. In the performers’ words, “Listening to music is a creative process in which each listener constructs their own meaning from a musical experience. This program will help guide you, as a listener, in developing multiple options for what each piece might mean. What do you hear now, in this place, that creates meaning for you?” Compositions by Florence Price, Maurice Ravel, and more grace this program with abundant opportunities for creative listening and musical imagery.
More About the Performers:
Ryan Zwahlen is a musician, educator, and entrepreneur. As an oboist, he has performed with the LA Phil, performed and recorded with the San Diego Symphony, and performed with numerous groups throughout Southern and Northern California. Since arriving in the Pacific Northwest, Ryan has become a sub with the Eugene Symphony, Rogue Valley Symphony, Portland Opera, and Portland Ballet. He currently serves as Principal Oboe of the Central Oregon Symphony, Central Oregon Chamber Orchestra, and Opera Bend. Ryan is on the faculty of Young Musicians and Artists, is Education and Outreach Coordinator with the Central Oregon Symphony Association, and from 2010-2014, he was Music Department Chair and faculty at the Idyllwild Arts Academy, a boarding high school for the arts in Southern California. As an entrepreneur, Ryan built a music school from the ground up in Redwood City, CA with 20 faculty members and over 300 students. Ryan served as Executive Director of The Definiens Project, a new music chamber ensemble, in Los Angeles, and has been the founding member of many chamber ensembles.
Gary Ruppert, a classical and jazz pianist, has been a performer and educator in Oregon for more than 45 years. He is a multifaceted musician, having worked as Assistant Musical Director in professional summer stock theater, a guest soloist with symphonies on multiple occasions, a church choir director, and jazz performer in many locations around Oregon and California. His entire career has been centered around helping audiences better understand and appreciate what they are listening to, no matter what style that may be. As a past president of Oregon Music Teachers’ Association and original author of their jazz syllabus, music faculty member, Chair of Performing Arts, and later Dean of Liberal Arts, Gary has a comprehensive grasp of education and the need for a broad-based understanding of all the arts.
Sunriver Music Festival is a year-round nonprofit presenting world-class orchestral performances and supporting music education throughout Central Oregon. Through a commitment to excellence, collaboration and innovation, the Festival seeks to foster a lifelong love of classical music in its many diverse forms. Visit sunrivermusic.org for more information.
