Marjorie Rusche is an internationally performed award-winning contemporary classical composer who combines romantic, modernist, vernacular and world music influences in her compositions. Dr. Rusche composes music for opera, music theater, orchestra, chorus, a variety of vocal and instrumental chamber ensembles, soloists, dance, theatre, and film documentaries. She was honored as a guest artist and composer panel moderator at the 13th London New Music for Winds Festival, November 19, 2010, in London, England.

Awards and commissions include: 2012-2013 Associate Faculty Professional Development Grant, Indiana University South Bend; 2012 Music Composition Commission from USA Projects, Artists2Artists Fund, USA Open Matching Fund, Cheswatyr Music Commissioning Fund (American Composers Forum) and 30 individual donors; 2012 Associate Faculty Merit Status, Indiana University South Bend; 2011 Stickley Foundation Grant for Music Composition; 2011 Curriculum Development Grant, Indiana University; 2010 Associate Faculty Travel Grant, Indiana University South Bend; 2010-2011 IU South Bend Center for a Sustainable Future Sustainability Fellow; Columbia College Chicago Follett Fellowship; Saint Mary's College Women's Choir; Portland, Oregon, Regional Arts Commission grant; Indiana Music Teachers Association Convention Commission; South Bend Symphony Orchestra; the American Music Center's Margaret Fairbank Jory Copying Assistance Program, New York City; DuPage Chorale/American Composers Forum-Chicago Chapter; Stickley Foundation Opera Commission Award, South Bend, IN; Indiana State Arts Board Individual Composer Fellowship; Meet The Composer-Midwest; the Jerome Foundation, St. Paul, MN; the American Chamber Opera Company, New York City; Gotham Ensemble, New York City; Meet The Composer-New York Composer Performance Fund Award; Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, IN; McKnight Foundation Fellowship in Music Composition, St. Paul, MN; Minnesota State Arts Board Individual Artist Fellowship in Music Composition; Minnesota Composers Forum Demo Tape Grant; the Schubert Club, St. Paul, MN; Minnesota Composers Forum/Jerome Foundation Composers Commissioning Program Award; Skylight Comic Opera Theater, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; DANCECIRCUS, Milwaukee, WI and yearly ASCAP Standard Awards Grants. Her compositions have been performed live and on radio in Amsterdam, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, San Francisco, Vienna, Kenya, Spain, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, and Wisconsin, her birth state.

Dr. Rusche is affiliated with ASCAP, New Music USA, the American Composers Forum, the International Alliance for Women in Music and the College Music Society. She teaches music composition, orchestration, opera, music theory, and piano at Indiana University South Bend and the University of Notre Dame. She has also been a music instructor at Colombia College Chicago, Saint Mary's College, Southwestern Michigan College and in Kenya while serving in the U.S. Peace Corps. She earned her D.M. in Music Composition from Indiana University School of Music-Bloomington and her M.A. in Music Composition and Theory from the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis.