As America's leading pioneer of musical sculpture, Berlin-born Robert Rutman has become a legend. Performing with his ensemble in major music centers, museums and galleries, Mr. Rutman's artistry and unique sounds have enthralled the avant-garde world from New York, Boston, Washington and San Francisco to London, Brussels, Munich and Stockholm. Mr. Rutman's rare combination of dramatic colours and eloquent musicianship has inspired collaboration with artists such as Merce Cunningham (Dance Series), Robert Wilson ('Alceste') and director Peter Sellars ('King Lear'). His performances have graced the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, Het Appolohuis in Holland, Moderna Museet in Stockholm and The Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., as well as New York's Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Science, Harvard University and scores of clubs including The Kitchen, Roulette and C.B.G.B.'s


About the 'Steel Cello Ensemble'
Sail-like pieces of gleaming metal supported by metal frames which wrap themselves around steel rods produce eerie, diaphanous sensuous, hovering ambiance's, sounds of squadrons of bombers flying overhead, of whales communicating undersea, the whir of great machines, the whine of dynamos and the tumble of a volcano, the sweet singing of a violin.

"a combination of sculpture, musical instruments and ... musical compositions is innovative and exciting to experience ...They represent a new stream of blending of contemporary music with the visual arts."
- Barbara Lambert,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

"The sounds are both highly modern and yet ancient, inborn. The crowd is suspended on waves of sound, fascinated. Minds zoom out of their usual cramped quarters in the here and now ... the strange sounds somehow make the difficult connection of present and past to future. The late afternoon breeze blows, and time stops ... Unearthly! It summons outer-space images and cosmic musings."
- The Boston Globe

"Mr. Rutman's instruments,...can be as mellow as French horns, as deeply resonant as the long ritual horns associated with Tibetan Buddhism, or as metallic and menacing as the sound of an approaching bomber squad ...These performances were romantic in their lyricism and delicate play of shadings, and at the same time ... satisfyingly concise."
- The New York Times