However, when Ruth was at a music course in France in 2003, she witnessed a performance that took her breath away. It was by a young violinist, a new name in classical music at the time, and he played Beethoven number 7.  She was due to perform Beethoven in two weeks and to top it all off, he was only 17. “He was really, really good”, Ruth admits!

Her performing career began after she left school, however she naively thought she would have a manager and a recording contract but she quickly realised that you can’t have everything land on your lap, she told t5m.

The turning point came in 2004 when she auditioned to perform at Wigmore Hall, London. When she saw the list of auditionees, she thought she would never have a chance. But, a few weeks later, she received a letter, which was opened by her boyfriend, informing her that she would perform. A nerve-wracking experience, she debuted to a crowd of “old-age pensioners”, who, she worried, would hate the recital. But to her surprise it was well received! 

Modest, humble and engaging - Ruth Palmer on t5m is not to be missed.

During the recital process, she realised that the piece was written for four hands. with the assistance of a tape. She contacted the archives in Moscow, New York, Paris, London in desperate search for the piece, but no one knew where it was. In the end, she decided to perform the piece with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Ben Wallfisch.

And it clearly worked…Ruth did then go on to win the Classical Brit Award for ‘Young Classical Performer of the Year’ in 2007.

Ruth tells us that it was very useful having her boyfriend on the film because he would cut out the parts where Ruth was making a “fool” of herself and put them together with other parts of the interview to make it sound like she was saying a coherent sentance.

One of her idols used to be the genius Heifitz, who in her eyes, has an extraordinary personality which comes across in his performances. She was amazed how he played the violin, and thought she would never be able to play like that, not because of the way he played but the way he projected his identity throughout the piece.  Ruth enthuses that Heifitz convinces you that it is the only way to play…!

Hailing from a musical background, her father was a cello teacher; he is now a composer, and her mother played the piano and the flute. Both have music degrees from Huddersfield Polytechnic where they met. Although Ruth wasn’t inspired by music, her parents encouraged her to play.

At the age of 8, her parents asked her if she wanted to continue with music and she decided that she would. Ruth began going to world renowned Japanese violinst Takashi Shimizu before becoming his student at Wells Cathedral School. At the age of 13, she moved to the famous Pas Les music school.