Passionate about composing about the human experience, composer Christina Rusnak works at the intersection of place, nature, culture, history and art to integrate context into her music from the world around her. A storyteller, she seeks to convey something meaningful about the human experience to both the audience and performers. 

An award-winning freelance composer living in the Pacific Northwest, Ms. Rusnak composes for diverse instrumentations with lyrical lines and organic rhythms and textures. Her repertoire ranges from elementary to professional levels and includes chamber ensemble, orchestra, wind band, choral works and solo works, as well as jazz, electro-acoustic works, and film. Rusnak’s work has been commissioned and/or performed by talented musicians across the country and internationally.

An avid hiker, much of Ms. Rusnak’s work focuses on cultural geography and environmental history. She has worked with the U.S. Forest Service, several National and State Parks and Monuments, and environmental agencies to sonically explore and commemorate many of our natural and cultural treasures including the environment and culture of the oldest continuously inhabited place on the North American continent, Celilo Falls.  In 2019, she led the renowned Composing in the Wilderness Seminar in Denali for the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival.

Rusnak understands how artists can experience and interpret the world we live in. Her pieces also address social and environmental justice, houselessness, immigration from 19^th to 21^st century perspectives, and more. In 2025, she is composing a multi-movement work for women’s choir, Women’s Rights are Human Rights addressing degrading rights of women globally.

Recent awards and honors include the 2023 Bronze Global Music Award for Voices of the Land; 2024 American Prize 2^nd Place Orchestra for The South Pass, a finalist for FREE LAND, and a 2025 finalist for the American Prize for Orchestra for Time After All.

An advocate for New Music, Rusnak currently serves as president of the International Alliance for Women in Music, and previously served as Sound Art Curator for the Dallas Contemporary Art Museum, as Executive Director for Orchestra 2001 in Philadelphia. Her essays on music and advocacy can be found on New Music Box, LandscapeMusic.org, and more. Her works are available from Amazon, Naxos and Parma Recordings. Scores are available through her website http://christinarusnak.com and various distributors, and can be viewed via ISSUU.