Jessica Rucinski
A Boston-area native, Jessica has participated as pianist, music director, and/or coach in 20 operatic productions. These include all three Mozart-Da Ponte operas with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras as well as student and professional productions in Boston and at festivals including the Aspen Music Festival and Music Academy of the West. As a Vocal Piano Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, she was a pianist and coach for the American premiere of George Benjamin’s Written on Skin in 2013. Also in 2013, she served as President of the Harvard Early Music Society, producing and music directing performances of Bach’s “Coffee Cantata” and Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. She returned to Harvard to music direct Acis and Galatea in December of 2014. As a collaborative pianist, Jessica has played in master classes or coached with Marilyn Horne, Kiri te Kanawa, Anne Sofie von Otter, Dawn Upshaw, and Martin Katz, among others. She served as interim music director and organist at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston from 2013 until moving to Berlin in 2016. She currently works as a software engineer for Wayfair.com.
“Chris gave me an organ lesson in the church where I was working at the time, and was the first person who really showed me how to listen to the instrument. I had the pleasure of hearing him improvise a bit while he quizzed me on which stops he was using. Chris’s excellent musicianship goes without saying, but the thoughtfulness that also comes across in his playing is reflected in his teaching as well. He was always flexible and eager to help me work on the skills that would be most useful to me in my job and for my interests.”