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About Withness

Take a beat.
Listen. Belong.

We don't perform for you. We sing with you. Every session is built around that shift — from audience to participant, from observer to someone who belongs in the room. No audience. No performers. Just people finding a sound, a voice, they didn't know they had. That's Withness.

Francisco Ruiz is a Berklee-trained vocalist, three-time Latin Grammy-nominated artist, and the founder of Withness. His practice is built on one conviction: that the right musical environment — open, engaging, and genuinely vulnerable — can transform a room full of strangers into something that feels like community. Not eventually. Within the hour.

He grew up in Quito, Ecuador, where music was never a performance — it was just how people were with each other. His father's bolero records on Sunday mornings. His mother's hum threading through every room. That's the feeling Withness is built to recreate — not as nostalgia, but as a craft. Intentional, repeatable, and designed for any room.

Francisco Ruiz smiling outdoors in a field of wildflowers
The origin

How it started.

Francisco Ruiz facilitating a group singing workshop at LAAF 2024

At Berklee College of Music, Francisco earned a dual degree in Vocal Performance and Contemporary Writing & Production — then kept going. He studied circle singing and spontaneous composition with Rhiannon and Joey Blake, worked directly with Bobby McFerrin, and deepened his roots in Latin tradition with Bernardo Hernandez and Oscar Stagnaro. He completed all three modules of Jeanie LoVetri's Somatic Voicework™ and is finishing a Master of Music in Choral Conducting at Cal State LA.

The performing career followed. Music Director at Walt Disney Concert Hall. National tour with Los Angeles Azules. Collaborations with U2, KC Porter, Noel Schajris, and KURT. Songwriting with COSME, Israel Brito, and Andrés López. Three Latin Grammy nominations. A debut solo album as MONCAYO on Dynamo Productions.

What Francisco kept noticing — through every stage, every studio, every rehearsal room — was a specific moment. The moment a group of people stop being individuals in a space and become something together. It happens fast, and it doesn't require talent or training. It requires the right conditions. Creating those conditions, intentionally, for any group of people in any room — that's the craft behind Withness. And it works every time.

“From the moment it began, I felt immediately welcomed into this circle of strangers. I was so kept on my toes and in the moment that the hours quite literally flew by. And when it was over, even though few words had been shared amongst us, I felt connected to a whole new circle of friends.”

AL
Alison Lewis
Workshop Participant
Credentials

The education behind the work.

Berklee College of Music

Dual Degree — Vocal Performance & Contemporary Writing & Production

Somatic Voicework™

All 3 Modules — Jeanie LoVetri Method

Cal State LA

M.M. Choral Conducting (in progress)

Francisco Ruiz — portrait
Shaped by giants

The teachers who expanded what music could be.

The Withness approach is a living synthesis of traditions, teachers, and collaborators who expanded what music can do.

Bobby McFerrin

Vocal improvisation & spontaneous composition

Rhiannon

Circle singing & vocal freedom

Joey Blake

Spontaneous composition & community voice

Zahara

Indian & Mediterranean classical traditions

Christiane Karam

Balkan & Mediterranean vocal music

Bernardo Hernandez & Oscar Stagnaro

Latin roots & rhythm

Walt Disney Concert Hall — Francisco Ruiz as Music Director
Notable work

Some of the rooms we've worked in.

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Walt Disney Concert Hall

Music Director

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Los Angeles Azules

US Tour

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Collaborator

U2 · Noel Schajris · KURT

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Producers

KC Porter · Crisantes · Vago Galindo

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Recording artist for COSME

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Solo artist: MONCAYO

Dynamo Productions — debut album forthcoming

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Urban Voices Project

Associate Music Director

What people say

Voices from the circle.

"Everyone should have a chance to experience the musical magic that happens in a circle singing workshop — there is a deep spiritual connection experienced individually and collectively through shared breath and song. In these times, making space for beauty is essential to our survival. Francisco's workshops are surely one way to make that happen."

Rev. Theresa

"Attending Francisco Ruiz's circle singing workshops has been nothing short of transformative. His ability to create a space that is both structured and free-flowing allows singers of all levels to tap into their creativity, connect with others, and experience the power of spontaneous music-making. Francisco's warmth, expertise, and intuitive guidance make every session feel like a journey — one where you leave not only a better musician but also more in tune with yourself and those around you. His passion for vocal improvisation is contagious, and I can't recommend his classes enough!"

Moana A.

"Francisco is simply magic. His improvisation-based workshops will help your singers become free, confident, independent, and honest in their music making!"

Rob Dietz

"Francisco Ruiz's Music Ministry is the embodiment of our highest ideals and aspirations as Unitarian Universalists. I've been fortunate enough to be so sore from the wounds of the world on many occasions, then to enter worship spaces where he is singing solo — with Afro-Latino drums, rhythms, and communal singing, as well as our treasured historic and contemporary hymns — and have my soul restored. I've also sung in a Unitarian Universalist choir only twice in my 25 years in this transformative, living faith: once for a Graduation Choir at Starr King School for the Ministry, and once for a Finding Our Way Home Choir where Francisco, Amanda Thomas, and others helped me reconnect with this SACRED part of my being. For this, and so many other reasons, Francisco's singing, and his playing of so many instruments and styles, leads to more of the Beloved Community wherever he shares his GIFTS and TALENTS."

Rev. Chris Long
25 Years a Unitarian Universalist

"There is so much to love about Francisco's Circle Singing workshops. From the moment it began, I felt immediately welcomed into this circle of strangers. Francisco is an enormously talented improviser — but he also has an uncanny ability to make each member of the circle, no matter their musical background, feel safe, included, and inspired. I was so kept on my toes and in the moment that the hours quite literally flew by. And when it was over, even though few — if any — words had been shared among us, I felt connected to a whole new circle of friends."

Alison Lewis

"Francisco is a passionate and compassionate teacher. He illuminates the truth of music: anyone can sing if their heart is in it. He creates sacred musical community effortlessly, and everyone is welcome in the circle. I am honored to have had the opportunity to sing and lift up the divine with him."

Heaven Walker

"I have experienced many sessions of Circle Singing with Francisco, and each one is always a unique experience. Francisco is expert at reading the mood of the room and knowing which direction to lead the group. He can start out humming and leading joyful rhythms, then in the blink of an eye organically guide the group into the most beautiful and meditative experience. If you want to try Circle Singing, try it first with Francisco!"

Amanda M. Thomas
Mezzo-soprano & Conductor

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