Ruslan Sirota

Ruslan was born in Uman, Ukraine. His father, Yefim, who was an active local guitarist, had introduced him to music at an early age. Picking up guitar around the age of four, Ruslan had transitioned to piano around the age of seven. In 1990, his family moved to Israel, where he continued to study piano at the Bat-Yam music school. At approximately 14, Ruslan discovered jazz, instantly showing imminent interest. By the age of 16, he was the "wunderkind" keyboardist for the then-popular Israeli jazz fusion band, "Confusion". With Confusion, he toured Israel and made several appearances at the Red Sea Jazz Festival.

 

At 18, Ruslan auditioned for the Berklee College of Music, where he received full tuition scholarship, and moved to Boston in January 2000. During his studies at Berklee, Ruslan displayed growing interest in R&B, funk and soul music, playing with local artists and eventually becoming the resident keyboardist in a club called "Wally's Jazz Café". Circa 2004, Ruslan joined the Stanley Clarke band and moved to Los Angeles, thus marking the beginning of his professional career.

 

Since then, Ruslan has been touring, performing and recording with major artists (in addition to Clarke), such as Black Eyed Peas, Kamasi Washington, Seal, Josh Groban, Ne-Yo, Thundercat, Chick Corea, George Duke, Marcus Miller, Al Jarreau, Victor Wooten, Eric Benét, Rachelle Ferrell, Larry Carlton, Los Angeles Philharmonic and countless others. Ruslan released his self-titled debut album, featuring Clarke, Corea and George Duke as special guests, on October 24, 2011. The album was produced by Ruslan and Clarke. in 2019 he released the album “A Lifetime Away” which has been years in the making.

 

Currently Ruslan is recording and performing with a new project featuring various vocalists. In the program - original music and unique arrangements of known songs.