Zsaz Rutkowski

Biography

Cellist Zsaz Rutkowski’s passion for the transformative potential of sound inspires her multifaceted, boundary-pushing performance career. Currently based in New York City, Zsaz regularly performs with American Ballet Theater, the American Symphony Orchestra, and has served as principal cellist for Distinguished Concerts International, New York.

With a deep calling for service, Zsaz blends her classical career with meditation and transformational high-vibration sound practices. She is a certified sound healing therapist working with groups and individuals, as well as sharing her gifts with the larger community including NYC’s oldest nonprofit, The New York Foundling, Helping Parents Heal of Long Island, and Bethany House women’s shelter.

Zsaz introduces her immersive sound expertise to the art of scoring theatrical music, initiated by a pioneering new project for the esteemed Theatre for a New Audience. Long devoted to musical theater and the art of storytelling, Zsaz has made her mark performing in numerous Broadway productions including the Tony Award winning musical Hadestown, Moulin Rouge, A Winter’s Tale, A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical, New York - New York, and Pretty Woman.

Committed to touching lives through the beauty of performance, Zsaz maintains an active recital schedule including St. Paul’s Chapel of Trinity Church Wall Street, Musica Viva, and the New York Historical Society. As an educator, she draws on her pedagogical foundation in Suzuki method and diverse musical training to inspire the next generation of cellists, maintaining a private teaching studio, as an instructor at the 92nd Street Y, and faculty positions at The Birch Wathen Lenox School and The Spence School, one of the top ranked all-girls’ private schools in the world.

Zsaz has enjoyed a rich, artistic path, having lived full time in Europe while receiving her Artist Diploma from the University for Music and Art in Graz, Austria. She holds a Bachelor of Music from the Manhattan School of Music, a Master of Music from The Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, and her beloved teachers and mentors have included Pam Devenport, Marion Feldman, Marcy Rosen, and Florian Kitt.