Composer, Music Director, Musician, Playwright, Lyricist
Associate Composer-Canadian Music Centre
The Canadian League of Composers
Canadian Aboriginal Music Award-Toronto-2008
Herbert Drost Award- 2019 British Columbia Choral Federation
Playwrights Guild of Canada
The Five Seasons-abridged- (twenty-five minutes) presented on Friday May 31, 2024, in Kirk Hall, Victoria BC. Six vocalists, eleven players and ten dancers.
“It’s hard to find words to describe the excellence of the performance in every way: beautiful, expressive, strong yet poignant.”-audience member
“This work is timeless and will inspire audiences for generations. What you have conveyed is a gift and I thank you for it.”-audience member
“From its first notes, this work grips you and transports you. Technically remarkable, emotionally extraordinary, it’s a work of great power, beauty and insight. It’s a timeless and masterful achievement.”-audience member
The Healing Heart Of The First People Of This Land– a symphony in four movements– The Seattle Symphony–Mark Taper Auditorium 2006
“You have just heard a masterpiece“- Maestro Gerard Schwarz.
EARTHPRAYERS an oratorio–Orpheum Theatre -Vancouver -1996
“Ruddell’s music is awesome…beautiful..exquisite, Ruddell writes gloriously for the voice…orchestrations as lush as Bruckner…the Death movement had the somber radiance of a Bach motet.”– The Vancouver Sun
“Ruddell’s music is uplifting…exhilarating… hypnotic… propulsive… sublime. moments of pure divinity…full of colour and variety…rhythmic surges that Frank Zappa or Igor Stravinsky would have been happy to claim…a breakout hit.”– The Georgia Straight
The Spirit Of Haida Gwaii-an oratorio– Bill Reid texts– Montreal, Waterloo, Vancouver-Six performnaces, multiple radio and television broadcasts
“..powercul and complex….a perfect match for the opening concert of the 2008 Cultural Olympiad, at Christ Church Cathedral on Friday (February 1)—the first of many arts-related events scheduled between now and the 2010 Olympic Games. Much like the Olympics themselves, Reid and Ruddell’s oratorio is rooted in ancient myth—and its creators’ cross-cultural partnership exemplifies the kind of brotherhood that the games, at least theoretically, are intended to foster. Alex Varty
Beyond Eden-Rock Musical–Vancouver, Calgary, Washington DC
‘World Class entertainment”-Calgary Sun. ‘Breathtaking spectacle’ The Georgia Straight
The Healing Heart Of The First People Of This Land
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES:
Wyndham Philharmonic-Vermont- October 14 2024.
Seattle Symphony March 7 2025.
University Of Washington January 2026
The Plague Diaries is a new music/theatre (lyric drama) creation funded by the Music Division of The Canada Council. The work is inspired by Shakespeare’s isolation periods in London during the plague outbreaks and the political and social upheavals of the late 1500,s in London, England: “The plague was caused by sin and sin is caused by plays.”
Image and photo of The Raven screen by Gwaai Edenshaw. It is the front screen for my music theatre piece Beyond Eden. Red carpet photo by Melissa Ponder, Seattle.