Ruth started her career as a pianist, having made her first TV appearance when she was just nine years old. By the age of ten she was regularly accompanying local choirs, leading her to perform at International Festivals such as the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod. As a pianist, she frequently won regional music competitions. Ruth read music at Oxford University, where she specialised in orchestration and composition. She continued her education at the Royal College of Music, obtaining a Masters in Composition for Screen, where she studied with leading film composers such as Patrick Doyle, Gabriel Yared, Joseph Horovitz and Dario Marianelli.
Ruth’s musical journey so far includes composing and performing soundtracks to silent films (for example Around China with a movie camera and Piccadilly revisited). Her live performance compositions have been performed internationally. She has played in indie bands such as Ghost Orchestra and Paris Motel, and is an orchestrator and lead keyboard for the iconic 1990s clubbing brand Miss Moneypenny’s ‘Night at the Proms’ tour.
Theatre credits include: Mountains: The Dreams of Lily Kwok (Royal Exchange/Yellow Earth Theatre/Black Live Theatre), Snow In Midsummer (Royal Shakespeare Company – nominated for The Stage Debut Award for Best Music); Shangri-La (Finborough Theatre); Ikea the Whale (Fringe Festival North Devon); The Last Days Of Limehouse (Yellow Earth Theatre) and double bill Magical Chairs and There’s Only One Wayne Lee (Southwark Playhouse & Beijing International Fringe Festival).
Music theatre and other credits include: The Triumph of Time for clarinet trio and actor (Thailand International Composition Festival, Pianoforte Studio Chicago, Shakespearean Theatre Conference Stratford, Ontario); From the Top (Hong Kong Arts Festival); Turandot Reimagined (Tête-à-Tête Opera Festival) and Piccadilly Revisited (Chinese Arts Now, Royal Opera House Linbury Studio, Hong Kong Arts Festival, UK Now Festival Beijing). Ruth has recently been selected as a semi-finalist composer for Pittsburgh Opera Festival’s new opera competition ‘Fight for the Right’ focusing on themes of women’s education: she will be presenting an extract of her opera Three in July at Pittsburgh Opera Festival.
Ruth is also a renowned composer for film and television. Her soundtrack for ‘Around China with a Movie Camera’ (British Film Institute) has been performed at Flatpack Film Festival, Hippodrome Silent Film Festival and China Changing Festival at Royal Festival Hall, London. She has also composed for television documentaries including ‘A Very British Airline’, (BBC), ‘Attack of the Pentagon’ (Discovery Channel) and ‘The Trouble with Pirates’ (BBC). Her latest feature film ‘Faces’ (DreamCoat Productions) is due to be released later this year. As composer’s assistant, she has worked with critically acclaimed Dario Marianelli, collaborating and orchestrating on films such as ‘A Long Way Down’, ‘The Brothers Grimm’, and ‘Pride & Prejudice’ (nominated for Best Score at the 2006 Academy awards).