RUTH POTTER  (harp) » 

Biography

Ruth began learning the harp at the age of nine with Helen Arnold and in 1995 was awarded an entrance exhibition to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Daphne Boden and Skaila Kanga. She graduated in 1999 with first class honours and has since completed a Masters postgraduate course at the Academy with support from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. Whilst at the Academy, Ruth won numerous prizes and was awarded a grant by the United Kingdom Harp Association for outstanding studentship. She also attended master classes in France and Italy.

Ruth has given solo performances in London's Purcell Room (as part of the 2003 Park Lane Group Series) and at both the seventh world harp congress in Prague and the Fifth European Harp Symposium in Amsterdam. She has also performed for the United Kingdom Harp Association and given numerous solo performances in the U.K.

Anthony Payne

"...the excellent harpist Ruth Potter gave an early evening recital which again combined the highest technical standards with imaginative flair, most impressively in Donatoni's haunting Marches. "

Ruth has premièred many solo and chamber works by composers such as Elinor Firsova and Nimrod Borenstein and has had works dedicated to her; notably, a piece for harp and choir by Sussex composer Barry Mills. She has featured in recordings for London's National and International Film Schools, on still photo shoots with Kate Moss, on pop videos and in the Observer newspaper. She has worked as a backing musician for the BBC's National Lottery Show, on National Tour for Aled Jones.

The Times

"...the harpist Ruth Potter had assembled a programme of astonishing variety...her aural and manual acuteness was revealed in the toccata of rainfall that was Martyn Harry's Regenstimmen, and her own high musical intelligence uncovered in Donatoni's demanding and disquieting 1979 Marches for solo harp."

Ruth was harpist in the onstage band for the Something Wonderful National tour 2000 and has since done studio recording work for Musical Solutions Ltd. Ruth works regularly with several different established chamber groups with whom she has given concerts in the U.K. and on European cruises. She performs regularly in hospitals and residential homes for the A.R.C.H. (Art, Research, Creativity, Health) programme run by Baroness (Dr.) Sweerts de Landas Wyborgh.

The Telegraph

"Potter's recital (was) played with expertise and flair...One work, Franco Donatoni's Marches, stood out as a piece that had something distinctive to say while emancipating the harp from its salon image."

Orchestral work has included concerts and recordings with the Philharmonia Orchestra, B.B.C. Symphony Orchestra, English Classical Players, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Concert Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow City Ballet Orchestra and New London Orchestra, for whom she also gives regular education workshops in London schools and community centres.

Orchestral Work
Orchestras: British Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Excellent Device!, Music Theatre Wales, New London Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Norwegian Opera, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Opera House Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Urban Soul Orchestra.

Education
Ruth's graduate studies took place at the Royal Academy of Music where she graduated with first class honours (1995 - 1999). She has since completed a Masters postgraduate course at the Academy with support from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust.

Prizes and Awards

• Entrace Exhibition, Royal Academy of Music (1995)
• Support from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, Royal Academy of Music
• Awarded a grant by the United Kingdom Harp Association for outstanding studentship

Teachers: Daphne Boden and Skaila Kanga. Ruth has also attended masterclasses in France and Italy.

Ruth joined Morgensterns in August 1999

Ruth's web profile was last updated 19th May 2012