Featured Music Alumni

Ruta Bloomfield, Doctor of Musical Arts

"I earned a later-in-life doctorate from CGU, an endeavor that had been in the back of my mind for twenty-five years. After clearing the idea with my supportive husband and three children, I jumped right in on a couple weeks’ notice. I went back to school for the best of reasons, simply because I wanted to. I found it thrilling to be in the intellectually stimulating environment created by both my professors and my colleagues. I was able to immediately apply what I was learning to my teaching at The Master’s College in Santa Clarita. I had always been a good performer, but my training at CGU took me to the next level of professionalism. As a result, I have concertized regularly, including a guest artist performance for the Iowa City Early Keyboard Society. My goal in performing and teaching has always been to be a blessing to others with the gifts God has given me. Now I am able to play even more skillfully to His glory (Psalm 33:3)."

Education

• Doctor of Musical Arts (Historical Performance Practices), Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, 2008.
• Master of Music (Musicology and Harpsichord Performance), Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 1981.
• Bachelor of Music (Music History and Literature and Harpsichord Performance), Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, 1980.

Highlights from Doctoral Studies at CGU

• DMA thesis: “Bernard de Bury’s Premiere livre de pièces de clavecin: Critical Edition and Commentary.”
  • One hundred pages of historical background (the author, his time, performance practices, a survey of French harpsichord music) and detailed analysis of each of the twenty-seven movements accompany the first modern edition of four suites (sixty pages) featured in the c.1736 Paris publication by Bernard de Bury.
• Doctoral Recitals: solo recital; two lecture-recitals; two chamber recitals.
• Doctoral Committee: Dr. Robert Zappulla (chair); Dr. Nancy van Deusen; Dr. Peter Boyer.
• Recipient, Kenneth Fiske Music Endowment Fellowship.

Recording and Radio Broadcast

• Music from Versailles (compact disc featuring the four suites for harpsichord by Bernard de Bury), released February 2009 (available at www.cdbaby.com).
• Quatrieme Suite from Music from Versailles broadcast on KCSN-FM (Los Angeles-area classical music station), June 2009.

Concert Performances (since graduating from CGU)

• October 2010. Iowa City Early Keyboard Society Guest Artist. Performed Music from Versailles: Works by Bernard de Bury featuring his four suites for harpsichord.
• September 2010. Guest Artist Exchange Soloist, Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, CA. Performed Music from Versailles: Works by Bernard de Bury featuring his four suites for harpsichord.
• February 2010. The Master’s College. Solo concert featuring two Biblical Sonatas (David and Goliath; Saul Soothed by the Music of David) by Johann Kuhnau and Capriccio in Bb and Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue by J.S. Bach.
• November 2009. Tuesday Midday Music at Mudd Concert Series, Claremont School of Theology. Solo concert featuring the four suites of Bernard de Bury.
• February 2009. The Master’s College. Solo concert featuring the first performance since the eighteenth century outside of France of the four suites by Bernard de Bury.
• November 2008. Collegium Musicum: Friday Noon Concert Series, Claremont Colleges. Chamber Music from 17th Century Italy. Featuring works by Andrea Falconieri, Giovanni Battista Vitali, Domenico Gabrielli, and Biagio Marini.

Publications

• Bernard de Bury: In a Distinguished Line of Harpsichordists to the King of France.” Southern California Early Music News, 36/3 (November 2010) and Society for Eighteenth Century Music Newsletter (April 2010).
• First modern edition of the four suites for harpsichord by Bernard de Bury (currently under review by several publishers).