Ruth Palmer

Ruth Palmer is an acclaimed young British violinist, an exponent of music ranging from Bach to Shostakovich and beyond, who was named "Young Classical Performer of the Year" at the Classical BRITs in 2007. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6619211.stm BBC News Story] ]

Career

* She graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 2000 with 1st class honours, the 'Roth Prize' for best violin final recital and the 'Lesley Alexander Award' for excellence. She won a Hattori Foundation Junior Award in 1999/2000 [ [http://www.hattorifoundation.org.uk/winners.htm Hattori Foundation award winners list] ]
* She went on to study at the Royal College of Music under Dr. Felix Andrievsky, who had been present at the first performance of Shostakovich's 1st Violin Concerto. In 2005 Ruth was made the first ever recipient of the prestigious Ritterman Junior Fellowship at the RCM, having previously been the Mills Williams Junior Fellow in 2004.

In 2004 she gave the world première of "Irony of Fate", a ballet for one female dancer with solo violinist on-stage created by Rafael Bonachela, Ballet Rambert’s Associate Choreographer for the Madrid International Day of Dance 2004, using the solo violin partita of Vytautas Barkauskas [ [http://www.rambert.org.uk/about/people/detail_a.asp?art=1427 Ballet Rambert announcement] ] .

She debuted at Wigmore Hall, and she has given recitals at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, Royal Opera House, Edinburgh Festival, Cheltenham International Festival of Music, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Teatro Albeniz Madrid, Munich Opera House Gala and Snape Maltings.

First Shostakovich CD and DVD

In 2006, her début CD "Shostakovich Violin Concerto No 1 & Violin Sonata" was released, with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Ben Wallfisch, and recorded on the "Turkish" Guarneri Del Gesu (1737) loaned to her by Charles Beare [ Quartz Website Artists Detail] . The BBC had commissioned a documentary about her preparation for this called "A People's Music" [BBC Radio 4 [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/musicfeature/pip/je3dl/ broadcast] Tuesday 27 June 2006 13:30-14:00] and a DVD version of this is included with the CD.

This was rated 5-stars by the Independent on Sunday [Anna Picard "Independent on Sunday" 6-Aug-2006] , and 4-stars by "The Times" [Rick Jones, "The Times" 2-Sept-2006] and the The Guardian [Andrew Clements "The Guardian" 29-Sept-06] . The review in "International Record Review" described her performance of the Concerto as "a performance which has astounded me...it a truly magnificent account" and on the Sonata commented "although two recordings exist of David Oistrakh playing this work (with Sviatoslav Richter and with Shostakovich himself – the last recorded in the composer’s apartment), Palmer’s recording is the finest all-round I have experienced – indeed, her intellectual understanding of this extremely difficult work is wholly exceptional, and her musical acuity is admirable" [ Robert Matthew-Walker in "International Record Review" Sept-2006] .

It was selected as Orchestral Disk of the Month in "Classic FM Review" who gave it 5 stars and declared "for my money, this is the Shostakovich centenary's most outstanding release" [ Malcolm Hayes, "Seriously thrilling" in "Classic FM Review" Sept-2006 p64]

She was profiled by Norman Lebrecht in the Evening Standard in Feb 2007 who commented that of the seven new releases of the concerto during 2006 Palmer's "got the best reviews. At fifth hearing, months later, it unfolds further layers of expressive depth. Her pacing is compelling from the opening phrase, and each stylistic option, every whisper and flutter, has the kind of logic that makes you wonder how the piece could ever have been played otherwise. It is both gravely authoritative and unmistakably personal." [Norman Lebrecht "Young, gifted and left to go it alone" Evening Standard 14 Feb 2007 - article available online at [http://www.scena.org/columns/lebrecht/070214-NL-gifted.html La Scena Musicale] ]

ubsequent work

She also performed Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" at Kenwood House for Classic fm Live. [ [http://www.londontown.com/LondonEvents/MusiconaSummerEveningClassicFMLivefeaturingRussellWatson/0dcd0?utm_source=LondonMonthly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=LondonMonthly25 Event listing] ]

In 2007 she performed the Brahms violin concerto [ [http://www.david.price.dsl.pipex.com/Pages_Horiz/forthcom_03.htm Brahms- Organiser's website] ] and the Elgar Violin Concerto [ [http://www.wso.org.uk/concerts.html Elgar - Organiser's website] ] and gave her 3rd Wigmore Hall recital on 14th May [ [http://www.wigmore-hall.org.uk/concerts/concert_details.cfm?e=34180 Wigmore Hall concert details] ] [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/05/16/bmruth116.xml Review] of Wigmore Hall 2007 performance in Daily Telegraph 16-May-2007] as well as performing on Radio 3 [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/intune/pip/2dw4d/ In Tune] 11-May-2007] . In October 2007 she gave the world premiere of the "Durham Concerto" by John Lord in Durham Cathedral with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra [ [http://www.dur.ac.uk/175/durham_concerto/ Announcement] from Durham University]

International Recognition

On 23rd February Palmer made a guest appearance (reported in the UK [ eg Mail on Sunday [http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/galleries/index.html?in_image_id=333543&in_gallery_id=9905&in_page_id=1055 "Acclaimed British Violinist Ruth Palmer"] ] , Continental Europe [eg In Cremona [http://www.laprovinciadicremona.it/pdf/index.asp?edizione=20070224&pag=50&EdizioneGiornale= La Provincia di Cremona] , Spain [http://es.news.yahoo.com/23022007/24/foto/acclaimed-british-violinist-ruth-palmer-plays-rare-stradivari-violin-dated.html "Acclaimed British violinist Ruth Palmer plays a rare Stradivari violin, dated from 1729, at Christie's auction house in London"] , Romania [http://www.mediafaxfoto.ro/photos.php?search%5Btitle%5D=BRITAIN-ENT-ARTS-MUSIC-STRADIVARI&search%5Bmode%5D=list&search_section=lifestyle&language=en Photos from AFP] ] , Asia [eg In India, [http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070224/biz.htm search for "British violinist Ruth Palmer"] and China Shanghai Daily [http://www.shanghaidaily.com/photo/photo.asp?types=supplement&id=8275 "Lord of the strings"] , Xinhua [http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-02/24/content_5766468_3.htm "Acclaimed British Violinist Ruth Palmer] ] , America [eg Stamford Advocate [http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/sns-pod-pix,0,7521087.photogallery?coll=stam-main-utility&index=2 Rare Strings] , Mexico [http://www.yucatan.com.mx/noticia.asp?cx=17$0100000000$3493467&f=20070224 La violinista Ruth Palmer sostiene el violín “Solomon ex-Lambert”] ] and elsewhere [eg [Khaleej Times] (Dubai) [http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayPhoto1New.asp?file=data/photogallery/newsinpic/photogallery1.xml&section=newsinpic Picture no 51 (2nd "UK")] ] ) during a press conference at Christies to play the 1729 Stradivarius violin Solomon, ex-Lambert which was auctioned in New York on 2 April for $2.7M compared to the estimated $1-1.5M. [ [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/02/stradivari_violin_goes_for_27m/ Stradivari violin goes for $2.7M] , [http://thecelebritycafe.com/features/9459.html Stradivari Goes for Double the Estimate] ] [Tony Pinkham, "Banking on it" in "Gig Magazine" February 2006] [Christies [http://www.christies.com/presscenter/pdf/02232007/102352.pdf press release 23 february 2007 (PDF)] ]

Palmer was nominated for a classical BRIT Award for her Shostakovich recording in the "Young British Classical Performer" category along with Nicky Spence and Nicola Benedetti [Evening Standard 2-April-07 p17] . She was invited to perform at the launch of the awards, described as "exceptional violinist Ruth Palmer" [ [http://brits.co.uk/classical/2007/ClassBRITsPressRelease2007-03-27.doc Classic BRITs Pess Release] ] and her presence was reported around the world [eg [http://www.jm-114.com/commercehtm/2007-04-03/20070403180907.htm China] , [http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/7/4/3/n1667583.htm Taiwan] ] . The co-Chair of the Awards Committee said of her "she experienced the typical struggle to be heard. But she took many courageous and unusual steps... Her persistence and artistic accomplishment have clearly paid off!" [Classical BRIT Awards Programme 207, p 23] She won the award on 3rd May 2007 at a ceremony in the Royal Albert Hall in the presence of the Duchess of Cornwall [see eg Daily Mail 4-May-2007 [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=452554&in_page_id=1770 "Camilla wows crowds at Classical Brits" - scroll down for picture of Palmer] ] , other award winners at that event included Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Simon Rattle.

She performed the Bartok Solo Sonata at the Crossing Border Festival, Royal Theatre, The Hague, in 2007 [ [http://www.crossingborder.nl/archief_en.php?jaarID=18&artiestID=1495 Festival Archive] see also Ruth Palmer website for details] and the World Premiere of the Sinatra Suite by Gwilym Simcock at the World Economic Forum 2008 [ [http://www.ruthpalmer.com/news.html Official Website] ]

Notes & References

Relevant links

* [http://www.ruthpalmer.com Artist's website]
* [http://www.rambert.org.uk/about/people/detail_a.asp?art=1427 Ballet Rambert]
* [http://www.rambert.org.uk/archive/repertoire/detail_a.asp?art=1378 Irony of Fate]
* [http://www.quartzmusic.com/cd/QTZ2045.htm Quartz CD and A People's Music]
* [http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Sept06/Shostakovich_Palmer_qtz2045.htm Long review of the Quartz CD/DVD]
* Profile in "The Guardian" [http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2071009,00.html The DIY violinist] 3-May-2007
* Profile in "The Times" [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article1744619.ece Violinist who made own album is rewarded with Classic BRITs win] 4-May-2007

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