Judy Rust is a mezzo soprano singer. She began her singing career in Los Angeles, performing with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Music Center Opera, a Bach ensemble under Christopher Hogwood, and as soloist in the Immanuel Presbyterian concert series. In 1989, she relocated to Belgium to sing with the Vlaamse Opera in Antwerp, where she is currently on contract. She has sung lieder recitals in Austria, Belgium and France, and has been a featured soloist in the Vlaamse Opera's concert series, performing songs of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Berg, Brahms and Britten.
Judy first became interested in Indian music on a trip to India in 1982, where she started studying abhanga of the poet-saints of Maharashtra. While in Belgium in 2001, she met Dhrupad singers Wasifuddin and Sayeeduddin Dagar, and began to study Dhrupad. Their accompanist, Pt. Udhav Shinde Apegaonkar, found that Judy knew some of the songs of the Varkari tradition, and suggested they work together. Since then, they have performed the Marathi abhanga program, 'Khela Mandiyela' throughout Maharashtra, in venues including the Bal Gandharva, Tapadya Auditorium, the Maharashtra Maza festival in Mumbai, the Lata Mangeshkara Theater in Indore, and at Varkari festivals. In Feb. 2009, they made their U.S. debut with 'Khela Mandiyela' at the Marathi Sahitya Sammelan in San Jose, CA.
Judy is the first foreign musician ever to have performed in the temple of Vitthoba in Pandharpur. She and Pt. Shinde are co-recipients of the 2007 St. Jnaneshwar Shanti Award.