Sebastian Ruth is a musician, educator, and organizer whose work explores new roles for music making in contemporary society. Sebastian is the Founder and Artistic Director of Community MusicWorks, a community based organization that builds cohesive urban community through music education and performance in Providence, Rhode Island. CMW’s programming includes a full season of chamber music performances and commissions by its twelve musicians in residence and guest artists; a free, robust music education program for 150 neighborhood young people; workshops, student concerts, and community dinners that involve families and the wider community; and fellowships and training programs that prepare a next generation of musicians to pursue socially-engaged music making.
As a violinist and violist in the MusicWorks Collective, Sebastian has had the opportunity to make music in Providence, Boston, Los Angeles, Banff, and New York, and to collaborate with the Borromeo, Kronos, Muir, Miro, Orion, and Turtle Island String Quartets, pianists Emanuel Ax and Jonathan Biss, violist Kim Kashkashian, oboist Frank Rosenwein, and violinist Jonathan Gandelsman.
Since 2013, Sebastian has served as a Visiting Lecturer at the Yale School of Music, designing and teaching courses on the connection between music, service, and society, including an online course on the Coursera platform, called “Music and Social Action.” Sebastian is an enthusiastic participant on the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture’s cabinet, with a title of Secretary of Music and Society, and Sebastian serves on the advisory board of the Sphinx Organization.
In 2010, Sebastian visited the White House to receive the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from First Lady Michele Obama on behalf of Community MusicWorks. In 2012, Sebastian received an honorary doctorate in music from Brown University, and was named by Strings Magazine as among the 25 most influential people in the string music world.
Sebastian lives in Providence, is married to violinist Minna Choi, and is a father to two awesome daughters.