Ian Rutherford completed a bachelor’s degree in music education at Augustana University, where he studied with Vance Shoemaker. During his undergraduate studies, he was a featured soloist multiple times with the Northlanders Jazz Band and a winner of the Concerto/Aria Competition. Following his undergraduate studies, Rutherford spent two years as band director in Grades 5–12 at West Sioux Public Schools in Hawarden, Iowa. He completed his master’s degree in trombone performance under the tutelage of Scott Anderson at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) in 2020.
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln awarded Rutherford a doctorate in trombone performance in 2023. His dissertation concerned trombone solo literature with themes of war. During his time at UNL, he taught History of Rock, the low brass sections of the Brass Pedagogy course, and studio trombone to minor and elective students.
Rutherford is an active freelance trombone player and clinician in the Midwest. He has performed with the Omaha Symphony, the Des Moines Symphony, the Sioux City Symphony, Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra, the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, the Northwest Iowa Symphony Orchestra and the University of Nebraska Brass Quintet. He also leads and arranges for his own trombone ensemble, Live and Let Slide. On the commercial side, he is a vocalist and trombonist with the Diamond Empire Band, Downtown Collective, and many other local big bands and rock bands. He has shared the stage with Jon Faddis, Chris Vadala, Second City, Mason Bates, Sasha Cooke, Evelyn Glennie, Michael Daugherty, Aaron Diehl, Mark O’Connor, Vince DiMartino, Keith Lockhart, John Luther Adams and Keith Brion, among others. He has also performed in masterclasses for Mark Lawrence, Douglas Yeo, Joseph Alessi, Matthew Vaughn and Marshall Gilkes.