ABOUT

American mezzo-soprano Ruth Ginelle Heald is equally at home singing opera, art song, musical theater, pop, and jazz. Operatic credits include Mrs. Soames in (Ned Rorem’s Our Town), Arlen Specter (Dunphy’s Gonzales Cantata), She (Purcell’s King Arthur), The Woman (cover, Seth Boustead’s La Jetée), and the title role in Carmen (Bizet). Musical theater highlights include Belle in Beauty and the Beast, Rose in Secret Garden, and the title character in the world premiere of Jason Heald’s Constance, a musical about Oscar Wilde and his wife, Constance Lloyd. Ms. Heald was a chorus member of Opera Theater Oregon’s Giasone and the Argonauts, a fusion of 17th century opera, 1960s cinema, and recycled fashion. 

Ms. Heald has appeared as a soloist with Chicago Choral Artists (Vaughan Williams Mass in G minor), Portland Symphonic Choir (Rachmaninoff All Night Vigil), Umpqua Chamber Orchestra (Purcell Dido and Aeneas), Willamette Master Chorus (Handel Messiah), and Lake County Symphony Orchestra (music of Antônio Carlos Jobim). She curated and performed Forces of Nature, a recital of music by women composers as part of the Musicians Club of Women’s Artist in Recital series at Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago. At Chicago’s Rhapsody Theater, Ruth recently performed a staged version of Dominick Argento’s Miss Manners on Music, a song cycle based on texts of etiquette columnist Judith Martin. 
She was a featured vocalist and percussionist for the 2016 Presbyterian General Assembly. In 2018, Ms. Heald was invited to perform new art songs by Jason A. Heald as a presenter at the College Music Society National Convention in Vancouver, B.C. Ms. Heald was the mezzo-soprano soloist in New now next: 21st century music for voice and piano, a recital of new music curated by pianist Dana Brown and presented at the 2019 Central Region Conference of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS). Ms. Heald regularly sings with Chicago Symphony Chorus, Grant Park Chorus, and Florentine Opera Chorus.

As a scholarship recipient, Ruth Ginelle Heald attended the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz as part of their summer opera studio program. Highlights include a trio performance of Brahms Zwei Gesänge für eine Altstimme mit Bratsche und Klavier, a recital rendition of “What a Movie!” from Bernstein Trouble in Tahiti, and singing in a quartet for a traditional Austrian wedding.

Ruth’s endeavors as a “singing drummer” have taken her around the world, including tours in Spain, Ireland, England, and China. She enjoys providing drums and vocals for various bands including Goldfoot, her Portland-based funk-rock group and Local Motive, a soulful staple of the rock scene in Chicagoland. Some of Ruth’s most memorable drumming gigs include playing in the pit for 4×4=Musicals (a showcase of 8-minute musicals created for 4×4 foot stage) and performing on the mainstage at the Oregon-based “What The Festival.” 

Ruth Ginelle Heald earned a Master of Music in Voice Performance at Chicago College of Performing Arts while serving as the Opera Graduate Assistant. A native Oregonian, she completed her undergraduate studies in vocal performance and music education at Willamette University in Salem, OR where she was a Rogers Scholar and a Carson Grant recipient. Ruth currently resides in Chicago with her husband, Elijah, and their two cats, Furnando and Nutmeg.