1. Deborah F Rutter was born on September 30,1956 and is an American arts executive.
21 Facts About Deborah Rutter
1. 2.
Deborah Rutter was the president of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC from September 2014 to February 2025.
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Deborah Rutter came to the Center from serving as the president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, an American orchestra commonly referred to as one of the "Big Five".
4.
Deborah Rutter was born in Pennsylvania and raised in Encino, Los Angeles.
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Deborah Rutter is the daughter of attorney and choral administrator Marshall Rutter and his first wife Winifred Hitz.
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Deborah Rutter played piano and violin and participated in youth orchestras in Los Angeles.
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Deborah Rutter graduated from Stanford University in 1978, where she studied music and German.
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In 1986, Deborah Rutter was hired to head the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, where she remained until 1992.
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Deborah Rutter then became the executive director of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.
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Deborah Rutter successfully worked to increase the Seattle Symphony Orchestra's visibility and endowment.
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Deborah Rutter was named to head the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association in 2003.
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Deborah Rutter was later instrumental in attracting Riccardo Muti as the orchestra's music director, and Yo-Yo Ma as creative consultant.
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Ma credits Deborah Rutter with making the orchestra and its music more accessible through performance and education beyond the major concert.
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Deborah Rutter became president of the Kennedy Center on September 1,2014.
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Deborah Rutter became the first woman to head the large, partially federally-funded, performing arts organization that includes many different types of performances and programs, as well as being a presidential memorial.
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In 2018, Deborah Rutter launched DIRECT CURRENT, a festival of contemporary culture which focused on new and interdisciplinary art.
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In February 2025, Deborah Rutter was dismissed as president of the Kennedy Center shortly after Donald Trump was made chairman of the organization, and as he dismissed almost all the Center's leadership.
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Deborah Rutter holds professional membership or board positions for Vital Voices, and the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.
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Deborah Rutter is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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Deborah Rutter has served the Academy on its board of directors, and as co-chair of its Arts Commission.
21.
Deborah Rutter is married to university professor and trombonist, Peter Ellefson.