Elena Ruehr describes her compositional philosophy simply: "the idea is that the surface be simple, the structure complex." Gramophone Magazine notes, "The sound world is wholly Ruehr: it never sounds like anyone else and the effect is exhilarating... her output is unified by her desire to communicate effectively without compromise."

Currently composer in residence with Lincoln's Symphony Orchestra, Ruehr's extensive discography includes her orchestral work O'Keeffe Images (BMOP Sound), the opera Toussaint Before the Spirits (BMOP Sound), and the cantata Averno (with the Trinity Choir, Avie). Her Six String Quartets, performed by the Cypress String Quartet, Borromeo Quartet, and Stephen Salters, is available on Avie. Additional recordings include Icarus (Avie), Jane Wang Considers the Dragonfly (Albany), Lift (Avie), Shimmer (Metamorphosen Chamber Ensemble, Albany), and Shadow Light (The New Orchestra of Washington with Marcus Thompson, Acis).

Beyond her ongoing collaboration with QuartetES, Ruehr's works have been commissioned, recorded, and performed by numerous string quartets, including the Arneis, Biava, Borromeo, Cypress, Delgani, Lark, Quartet Nouveau, Roco, and Shanghai quartets. An award-winning MIT faculty member, she has been named a Guggenheim Fellow and a fellow at Harvard's Radcliffe Institute, and has served as composer-in-residence with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Renowned for her vocal compositions and collaborations with poets, she has composed five operas, five cantatas, and numerous songs. Her repertoire spans orchestra, chorus, wind ensemble, chamber ensemble, instrumental solo, opera, dance, and silent film. Her work, performed internationally, has been praised as "sumptuously scored and full of soaring melodies" by The New York Times and "unspeakably gorgeous" by Gramophone.

A recipient of the Baker Undergraduate Teaching Award, Dr. Ruehr has taught at MIT since 1992 and resides in Brookline.