Ruth Gelsinger
Piano
207-944-5738
Ruthgelsinger@mainstreetmusicstudios.com
Ruth Gelsinger is the Founder and Producing Artistic Director of the Northport Music Theater, a summer musical theater specializing in contemporary Off-Broadway musicals and musical theater summer camps for kids. She has been self-employed as a teacher of piano, choral and solo accompanist,
organist, and musical theater show pianist for over 30 years. As a secondary career, Ruth has been involved in commercial and residential real estate development. Ruth grew up in the Boston area and spent summers at a family cottage in New Hampshire before moving to Maine in 1969. She started piano lessons in the second grade and although her piano lessons were strictly classical, she was a “child of the sixties” and a lover of blues, soul, and rock. Many hours of her musical life were spent at the piano enjoying the exacting discipline and beauty of her favorite composer, J.S. Bach. And just as many hours were spent dancing and singing to the tunes of Simon and Garfunkel, Little Richard, and the Beatles. During the 70’s she became in involved with her first music theater production, The Pajama Game, at the Camden Civic Theater. She was accompanist for her high school chorus and gave a solo piano recital in her senior year and won the third prize of a Bay Chamber Scholarship. She attended the University of Maine at Orono and received her Bachelor of Music in Performance degree in 1977. She returned to the College of Educational as a special student in 1980 to complete her course work for Maine teacher certification for Choral Music Education grades K-12. She composed music for children’s theater, underscored, and played piano and vocal coached for the Camden Shakespeare Company during the early 80’s. She moved to Belfast in 1982 and began teaching piano full time as an independent teacher of piano in 1983. She completed her Master’s in Music Education degree in 1990 where she studied advanced piano technique with Baycka Voronietsky. Ruth performed as pianist and music director at the Belfast Maskers community theater from 1993 to 2006 and for musicals at Bucksport High School, the Bucksport Community Theater, Lincoln Academy, the Waldo Theater, and others. She has been a choral singer and has sung and accompanied many of the great choral works such as Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Faure’s Requiem. She has composed works for Piano, Oboe, and Bassoon as well as solo piano and for musical theater. She has been a member and Treasurer of the Maine Music Teacher’s Association. Ruth lives in Northport with her husband, John. She is currently the Advisory Chair of the Belfast Civic Center Committee, a volunteer citizen group working with the City of Belfast to bring a 400- seat theater and event space to downtown Belfast.