Divine Echoes

Ruthie Nelson serves as Choral Director at Hillsborough Community College, where she also leads the Voice Program and teaches music theory. With teaching experience spanning elementary through collegiate levels, she brings a deep and enduring passion for vocal arts to every ensemble and classroom she leads.

Nelson has prepared choirs for performances at Carnegie Hall and is a sought-after clinician throughout Florida. In addition to her work as an educator, she is an in-demand soloist and chamber musician, praised by critics and audiences alike for her “unerring” performances that “cast a spell of sublime simplicity.”

She appears on a GRAMMY-nominated recording of Brahms’ Requiem and has been featured as a soprano soloist in major works including Mozart’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Handel’s Messiah, and Fauré’s Requiem. A champion of new music, Nelson has also performed in contemporary works such as John Lippa’s oratorio I Am Harvey Milk and Stephen Schwartz’s Tyler’s Suite.

Her performance career has taken her across Europe, with tours in Poland, Germany, and Hungary. She was the winner of the 2011 St. Petersburg Opera “Opera Idol” Competition and was named Florida Female Vocalist of the Year by the Florida Federation of Music Clubs in 2006.

Nelson holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of South Florida and graduated summa cum laude from USF with a Bachelor of Science in Music Education. She also serves as Music Director at First United Methodist Church of New Port Richey. Outside of her professional work, she is a proud mother to Ella (11) and Henry (8).