Ruth is a pianist and violinist with a wide portfolio of work including collaborative performance projects, community work, accompaniment, teaching, and recording. Ruth studied at the Junior Royal Northern College of Music during their school years before going on to study Music at Royal Holloway, University of London, where they were awarded an instrumental scholarship that enabled them to study piano at the Royal College of Music. Ruth later gained an MA in Music in Development at SOAS, University of London, with a Mildred Loss studentship awarded by the Jewish Music Institute.

Ruth’s musical interests have always been broad, and they particularly enjoy working creatively with other musicians and artists. In 2018 they joined Genevieve Carver and The Unsung, performing their debut show The Unsung at the Edinburgh Fringe that summer and co-writing a new show called A Beautiful Way to be Crazy, which enjoyed a short UK tour in early 2020. The music from this show can be heard here. Since 2020 Ruth has worked with queer Jewish performance collective Homos and Houmous, composing music for a series of cabaret events, both online and in residence at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. Back in Sheffield, Ruth is a member of Emergence Collective, an experimental, post-minimalist project that performs group improvisations in beautiful spaces, The Heist ceilidh band, providing dynamic folk music for public and private events, and Heneghan, a wholesome if somewhat melodramatic outfit led by El Heneghan. Ruth also plays with 7 Hills Kapelye, a lively klezmer band that performs locally and hosts a monthly klezmer session – please get in touch if you’re interested in coming (even just to listen).

Ruth places high value on making music with people in community settings. They have worked with people held in immigration detention centres (with Hear Me Out, formerly Music in Detention), with people seeking asylum in Barnsley (with Music in the Round), and with people living in residential care homes (with Music in the Round). Since 2021 Ruth performs music to patients at Sheffield’s teaching hospitals as part of the Arts in Health programme.

Ruth is an accompanist for the Sheffield Bach Choir (since 2017) and Sheffield University Singers’ Society (since 2019), and has been a regular dance accompanist at the Academy of Northern Ballet (2018-2020) and The Ballet School London (2012-2017). They have performed on piano, organ and harpsichord with The Brigantes Orchestra and Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ruth is accredited by the Sheffield Music Hub and teaches piano in two schools; they also teach piano, violin and music theory privately to adults and children at all levels, and are available to work as an accompanist for performance exams and recitals – please get in touch via the contact page for more details.