We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shelbie Rassler a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Shelbie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
In March of 2020, my undergraduate alma mater was shut down due to Covid-19 and my friends and I were all devastated. It was such a tragic time for everyone and we were losing hope quickly. Coming from an arts conservatory, my initial instinct was to engage my community in something artistic, but that seemed impossible as we were all dispersing all over the world. I wanted to create a project that could reunite my arts community and provide a little bit of hope and happiness. I asked my friends on Facebook if anyone wanted to remotely record some music in their own homes that I would edit together for one big collaboration. After just a few days, I had arranged Burt Bacharach’s “What the World Needs Now’ for virtual orchestra, sent everyone their sheet music and demo tracks, received 75 individual recordings, and edited together a music video, including instrumentalists, singers and dancers, recorded all over the world. What started as an opportunity to engage my friends in something to spread a little bit of joy throughout our community ended up as a viral video that caught the attention of Burt himself, along with President Biden and many others. It has since been viewed by millions of people online and on tv specials, like the CNN Fourth of July Special, where I had the opportunity to work with Mr. Bacharach on an updated version with him singing along, and the CBS Sunny Awards, where I was awarded a CBS award for the endeavor. The whole experience was incredibly surreal and I am so beyond grateful for this project, the most meaningful of my life!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Shelbie Rassler and I am a Juilliard-trained composer and multi-instrumentalist, focusing on creating music for the interdisciplinary arts. I am the Music Director of the Vail Dance Festival, where we feature many of the top dance companies in the world every summer. In addition, I am Co-Founder of Jenkins & Rassler, LLC, a women-owned music production and services company home to a wide variety of projects, including original music for film and television, concert commissions, audio engineering, arranging and more, balancing peace and productivity within every collaborative process and customizing a unique approach for each client. Our two in-house composers, Katie Jenkins and myself, write the works and employ an Artist Roster of over 40 world class performers and composers to help bring it all to life.
Philanthropic work is incredibly important to me and I’m honored to have worked on several fundraisers to help raise over $6 million dollars for those in need since the start of the pandemic. One of my favorites includes working as the Music Video Producer on Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley’s hit show “Stars in the House”, where we have raised over $1 million for the Entertainment Community Fund and over $500k for other non-profits including the Humane Society. In addition, this led to me working with Seth and James on the Broadway Performance at the Presidential Inauguration concert “Celebrating America”, which was later nominated for an Emmy award! I also had the pleasure of working on Stacey Abrams’ “Rock the Runoff Concert” which was headlined by John Legend and raised over $1.2 million, and I had the honor of writing a piece of music for the Broward Heath Foundation, which helped to raise hundreds of thousands for healthcare workers in need.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
One of my main goals is to lift up my peers through the collaborative arts, which is exactly what catalyzed the creation of the “What the World Needs Now” music video. I am constantly searching for opportunities to collaborate with and employ my peers to help maintain that sense of community that is sometimes difficult to find in such a tough industry.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Maestra Music, led by Georgia Stitt. Georgia started this community through informal meetings in 2017 and everything really took off in 2020, when the organization pivoted to provide virtual opportunities for the community. I was honored to teach a Maestra Technical Workshop in 2020 and have since been an active member (and huge fan!) of Maestra Music. Here is the organization’s mission statement:
MAESTRA provides support, visibility, and community to the women and nonbinary people who make the music in the musical theater industry.
Our membership is made up of composers, music directors, orchestrators, arrangers, copyists, rehearsal pianists and other musicians. The organization’s initiatives include monthly educational seminars, mentorship programs, technical skills workshops, networking events, and online resources and partnerships that aim to promote equality of opportunity and to address the many historical disadvantages and practices that have limited women and nonbinary composers and musicians in the musical theater. 
Contact Info:
- Website: shelbierassler.com
- Instagram: @ShelbieRassler
- Twitter: @ShelbieMRassler
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ShelbieRassler