Keri Rusthoi, DMA, appearances on the operatic stage include the starring role of Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, as Alice in Falstaff as well as in such roles as Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Micaëla in Carmen, Adina in The Elixir of Love, Nanetta in Falstaff, Flora Bervoix in La Traviata, and Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly. Additional operatic credits include Valencienne in The Merry Widow, Papagena in The Magic Flute, Musetta from La Bohème, Despina in Così Fan Tutte, Lucilla in La Scala di Seta and countless scenes for The Santa Fe Opera’s Education and Outreach program and roles while attending the Manhattan School of Music.
Rusthoi has been a featured guest artist for several contemporary works series, and has appeared in concert and oratorio performances as soloist with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Albuquerque Philharmonic, Steamboat Springs Chamber Orchestra & Choir, St. Paul Lutheran Orchestra & Choir, and The Colorado College Choir & Orchestra. She was a featured soloist with the Emerald City Opera, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, the Ohrid Summer, Bitola Arts and Skopje Music Festivals (Macedonia) and New Mexico’s premiere contemporary music group Chatter, as well as Strings in the Mountains (Colorado), and the historic Tarrytown Music Hall in New York. Rusthoi has also toured Europe with Opera New York’s production “The Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber”, performing selections from the roles of Christine in The Phantom of the Opera and Mary Magdelene in Jesus Christ Superstar among others.
Rusthoi completed her Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with Alfonse Anderson, where she was awarded outstanding honors for both juries and other stage appearances. Early schooling involved study with the late, eminent Jean Kraft of the Metropolitan Opera and academic training at the Manhattan School of Music. She earned a Master of Arts in Vocal Performance from the University of New Mexico, and completed undergraduate work in music at The Colorado College.
While pursuing her master's degree, Rusthoi was the winner of the New Mexico Symphony Young Artist Competition, and a finalist for the Fulbright Awards to study in Italy. She also received the 1991 Denver Lyric Opera Award and the 1992 Marie Clough Gillis Award for Excellence in Vocal Music while attending The Colorado College. Rusthoi won rave reviews as a guest artist on the award-winning "New Age" recording The Lost World by Michael Sterns, released in 1991, and is a registered BMI recording artist. She was instrumental in creating the world premiere of an orchestral arrangement of Jean Berger's song cycle Villanescas, which she performed at the 2012 Steamboat All Arts Festival. Rusthoi is the Founder and former Artistic Director of both the Emerald City Opera, now in its twentieth year, currently called Opera Steamboat, as well as its national Opera Artist Institute for Emerging Singers.
Rusthoi served as voice faculty for the University of Nevada for seven years and is currently academic music faculty at Colorado Mountain College. She is Creative Director at The Arts Consultancy, an arts administration support and advisory firm, serving regularly as the Northwest Colorado representative for the Colorado Creative Industries statewide granting panel. She is an advisor to the Yampa Valley Choral Society and is Director of Music at the United Methodist Church in Steamboat Springs, as well as Music Director/Conductor of the Yampa Valley Singers community choir. She formerly conducted the Yampa Valley Youth Choirs, the Yampa Valley Opera Troupe, the Columbine Youth Chorale, the Emerald City Opera Youth Chorus, Opera Artist Institute and Touring Opera Troupe and has dabbled as a violist with The Avalon String Quartet and Steamboat Springs Chamber Orchestra. Rusthoi is a member of the National Association for Teachers of Singing and the Colorado Music Educators Association.
Rusthoi is the author of the book Opera Voodoo: Casting for Regional Operatic Productions published by Outskirts Press in 2021.