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Marques Jerrell Ruff

@marquesjruff

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Believer ✝️
Bass-Baritone 🎵
Conductor 🎼
Ph.D. 👨🏾‍🏫
Globetrotter 🌎 - 41 countries & 48 states

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Summer 2026 Recap Pt. 3 🇲🇴☀️

I was born to teach.

There is a particular joy in taking something abstract and finding a way to make it tangible — to sequence ideas and ask the right questions that encourage curiosity and lead to discovery.

There is also something beautiful about standing in a room with people from every corner of the world and realizing that, despite our differences, we know how to breathe together.

To sing together.
To listen.
To create.

The World Symposium on Choral Music reminded me that this work is so much bigger than what any of us does in one place.

It is culture.
It is connection.
It is memory.
It is community.

And somewhere between the sessions, performances, late-night conversations, new friendships, and moments of simply taking it all in, I found myself grateful all over again for the life I’ve chosen. ❤️

#music #choir #educator #explore #fyp by @marquesjruff

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23 days ago

Summer 2026 Recap Pt. 2 🎶☀️

I love singing.

I love taking a text and bringing it to life in a way that only I can.
I love creating something greater than myself through harmony with other people.
I love being guided by capable musicians whose artistry, generosity, and passion are evident in everything they do.

Every summer in Santa Fe gives me the chance to reconnect with a part of myself that can be easy to lose sight of throughout the year. Here, I’m reminded of why I sing. Why I conduct. Why I teach. Why I make music.

And, perhaps most importantly, I’m reminded that this work matters…not just to me, but *for* the world around me.

Grateful, as always, for the music, the people, and this place. 🤎
=========
Contains excerpt of I’ll Be On My Way by Shawn Kirchner

©️All Professional Images courtesy of Tira Howard Photography & the Santa Fe Desert Chorale

#summer #explore #fyp #musician #singer by @marquesjruff

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24 days ago

Summer 2026 Recap, Pt. 1 🎶 ☀️

Since I was a youngster in this business, I’ve often felt like people wanted to put me in a box: “I thought he was a singer?” or “How does he do this and that?”

The answer is simple: I am who I choose to be.

I began the summer with 55 new friends in an SATB choir of rising high school freshmen through recently graduated seniors. Returning to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp as a faculty member was truly a full-circle moment.

The real gift, however, was helping these young musicians unlock their fullest potential, find their voices, and soar to new heights. I love the conducting podium just as much as I love to solo and teach—and getting to experience all three this summer was pretty special.

So… does that make me a triple threat?! 👀🎤🎶

#throwback #summer #camp #musician #fyp by @marquesjruff

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25 days ago

Just out here chasing dreams…🌙

#musician #explore #fyp #grateful #dreams by @marquesjruff

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a month ago

Year 3! 🐺⬆️❤️.

#firstday #school #professor #music #grateful taken in Arkansas State University Department of Music by @marquesjruff

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a month ago

Today, the city of Riga, Latvia turns 825 years old — puts a lot of things into perspective.

#travel #photography #friends #grateful by @marquesjruff

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a month ago

A return to the Old Town — the second time was even better!

#vacation #friends #travel #photography #grateful taken in Tallinn, Estonia by @marquesjruff

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a month ago

40 for 40!

🇫🇷🇩🇪🇨🇳🇦🇹🇨🇿🇭🇺🇧🇪🇮🇪🇨🇦🇳🇱🇷🇺🇮🇹🇸🇪🇭🇰🇸🇬🇹🇼🇧🇴🇲🇴🇩🇰🇬🇧🇨🇭🇪🇸🇵🇹🇧🇸🇲🇽🇪🇪🇳🇴🇮🇱🇮🇸🇨🇴🇰🇷🇳🇿🇲🇦🇭🇷🇲🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇬🇹🇻🇦🇨🇷🇫🇮

#travel #traveler #globetrotter #friends #birthday by @marquesjruff

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2 months ago

Many Mansions/I’ll Be On My Way 🎶

Bass-baritone Marques Jerrell Ruff and composer Shawn Kirchner join forces for a post-rehearsal jam session on two pieces near and dear to the Desert Chorale.

“I’ll Be On My Way” has been a Chorale favorite for years. “Many Mansions/Come, Thou Fount” is the final movement of Kirchner’s new work for the Chorale, The Great Refuge, with this first verse penned by Shawn himself.

Shawn writes:
“I wanted to show the extravagance of welcome, and also the richness and plenty of coming home. I penned a new verse, utilizing various often heard scriptural references, as well as expanded imagery and small quotes from the original text.”

Homecoming opens today! Join us for in this program of pnew choral compositions rooted in the familiar, comforting sounds of American folk music, featuring collaborators David Felberg (violin), Amy Huzjak (cello), and Nathan Salazar (piano), alongside guest vocalist and commissioned composer Moira Smiley. ✨

#SantaFe
#DesertChorale
#Summerfestival taken in Santa Fe Desert Chorale by @marquesjruff

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2 months ago

by @marquesjruff

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2 months ago

Cathedrals.
Biergartens.
Students first travel & a return to familiar places and spaces.
Germany 2026. 🇩🇪
———
#germany #choirtour #perspective #explore by @marquesjruff

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3 months ago

New album reaction video! ❤️

#grateful #newmusic #explore #fyp #choir by @marquesjruff

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4 months ago