Gunnar Rugstad

Gunnar Rugstad (5 January 1921 − 14 June 2000) was a Norwegian musicologist.

He was born in Gjerpen, and his own main instrument was the trombone. As a musician he was hired in the orchestra of Chat Noir in 1940. He left Norway for Sweden during the German occupation of Norway, playing in the orchestra of the Norwegian police troops in Sweden. From 1946 to 1968 he was a trombonist in Kringkastingsorkesteret, playing solo in works arranged for his instrument. After leaving the Kringkastingsorkesteret, he was a sometime soloist in the Musikselkabet Harmonien.

Rugstad studied music at the Oslo Conservatory of Music and musicology at the University of Oslo, graduating with a magistratus degree in 1953. The appointment in 1974 was praised by music writers such as . Dagbladet had suggested Rugstad as a director of the Norwegian National Opera.

From 1967 to 1968 he also chaired the modernist music organization .

After retiring from his professional career, he studied Frederick Delius. Gunnar Rugstad died in 2000, aged 79.