Ruth Hertz Weber

Ruth Hertz Weber aka Ruth Lopez-Yañez is a composer, conductor, and pianist. She has collaborated on film and music projects with artists such as Dan Aykroyd, Julian Lennon and Ricky Kej and her music has been performed by major symphony orchestras including the Omaha Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Symphony, and Virginia Symphony Orchestra. She has won awards from the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, Parents' Choice Awards and Hollywood Music in Media Awards, among others. As a filmmaker, she directed and produced the 2024 documentary, Ale Brider.

Early life and education Ruth Karen Hertz was born and raised in San Diego, California, and studied piano, guitar, and voice while growing up. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from San Diego State University (SDSU), and her Master of Music degree from California State University, Northridge (CSUN).

Career As a composer, Weber's songs have been recorded in the U.S. and abroad, and she has been a winner of the New York Pro/Am Songwriting Competition, The Canadian Songwriting Competition, the Jewish American Songwriting Competition and the Music City Song Festival, among others. Her songs have appeared in film and print music. She is a member of The Recording Academy.

An advocate for education, Weber and her daughter Emilia Lopez-Yañez make up the children's music group Ruth and Emilia. Their debut album "The Spaceship that Fell in My Backyard" received positive reviews and won numerous awards including Hollywood Music in Media Awards.

Weber was named music director for the Center for Jewish Cultural Renaissance after her success with these festivals. Weber was the founder of the Cuyamaca College Chorus and the Accompanying Ensemble at Palomar College. She organized the “A Night at the Opera” fundraiser concerts, which raised over $30,000 the first year, benefiting the student support services at Poway High School, and saving the valuable program for two years in a row.

As one of the music directors at the First United Methodist Church in Escondido, Weber directed the Children's Choir, the Youth Choir, the Church Orchestra, the Disciple Singers, and ran the Children's Choir Festival for several years. As music director for Ner Tamid Synagogue in Rancho Bernardo, Weber formed and directed the Ner Tamid Choir and the Klezmattack Ensemble. She organized and directed two JUMP festivals (Jews United in Music Performance) which aimed to unite the community in song, raise money to buy trees in Israel and sponsor cultural activities in San Diego.

Weber is the former artistic director for the Jean Will Presents concert series at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, California. As a classical pianist Weber has performed internationally as well as in the U.S. She has worked with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, Opera Aguascalientes, CSUN, The San Fernando Valley Men's Choir, and as a recording artist with the Marantz Pianocorder Division.

San Diego Jewish Men's Choir Weber is presently the Artistic Director/Conductor of The San Diego Jewish Men's Choir, which performs over 25 concerts per year in the Southern California area. The choir released its first award-winning album, “Heritage,” on Jan.1, 2014, and its second multi award-winning and Billboard (magazine) charting album, KOCHI, in 2015. Under Weber's leadership the group received a proclamation from Mayor Todd Gloria proclaiming the men's choir's festival/ release party as Chanukah JAM Day 2013. Weber and the Men's Choir have performed on national television as guests on the Chabad Telethon 2014 and on two Jewish Life Television episodes. In 2018, Weber organized a tour for the choir to travel to Omaha, NE, where they performed alongside the Omaha Symphony under the direction of conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez, and later to Phoenix, AZ. Their album, Legacy, won a Global Music Award for "Best Jewish Music" in 2020.

Ruth and Emilia Weber and her daughter, Emilia Lopez-Yañez, formed "Ruth and Emilia", a children's themed musical duo, in 2018. They released two albums, Kokowanda Bay and The Spaceship that Fell in My Backyard, which both received positive reviews. "Repair the World" won the Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in 2016 and "Everything Is Better With Some Bubbles" won a Hollywood Music in Media Award in 2018, as well as receiving other awards.

Discography

Filmography

Awards and nominations