Scottish harpist Ruth Wall specializes in the development and performance of new music. She is regarded as one of the UK’s leading harpists – specializing in lever harp, buzzing Renaissance bray harp, Gaelic wire strung harp and concert harp.

Ruth performs as a soloist and in some of the most exciting ensembles and bands (Goldfrapp, Fitkin) based in UK. She recently toured to Japan, Australia, USA, Canada and throughout Europe and Scandinavia, including performances at Monza Milan, Spiral Hall Tokyo, Queen’s Hall Edinburgh, The Sage Gateshead, Bristol Old Vic and QEH in London. She has worked with the BBC Singers and Philharmonia Orchestra and often collaborates with musicians, artists and dancers on new commissions. This year she has worked with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Portishead’s Adrian Utley, composer Gavin Bryars, conductor Charles Hazelwood,  Will Gregory and saxophonist Andy Sheppard.
Ruth has won several prizes including the John Ireland Prize and the Laurence Davies Memorial Award. She has worked alongside several celebrated British composers such as Howard Skempton, Laurence Crane, Gabriel Jackson and Peter Maxwell Davies, building up a repertoire of new works for the lever harp. Her first solo album The Uncommon Harp was released in December 2004.
Since 2003 Ruth has worked closely with her partner, the composer Graham Fitkin, and in 2005 toured film and music project KAPLAN (based on the fictitious character in Hitchcock’s North by Northwest) in Japan and UK.  In 2007 the new Fitkin Wall CD STILL WARM was released and toured throughout UK and Italy. The music centred on juxtaposing Ruth’s early harps with new electronics and live visuals from visual artist Mark Silver and Nick Corrigan. She now performs, records and tours with his new highly acclaimed 9 piece ensemble FITKIN.
She composes and performs her own works on harp – broadcasts include Radio 3 commissions and Radio 4 Classic Serial. She has worked with theatre director Cal McCrystal and in 2003 wrote the music for a new film which won Best Silent Film prize in the First Light Film awards. She has composed for the BBC Singers, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Cheltenham and Spitalfields Festivals and worked as a presenter on BBC Radio 3.
In 2007/8 Ruth recorded and toured Europe, USA and Australia playing harps and keyboard with GOLDFRAPP on the Seventh Tree tour, performed at the Jerwood Opera Writing Programme in Aldeburgh and collaborated with pianist Sarah Nicolls on an improvisation project involving prepared harps, piano and live electronics. She developed and performed with fellow harpist Rhodri Davies on a new programme for 2 harps centred on patterns. She also toured a new solo programme of works for wire and lever harps in Sweden.
In 2009 she worked with the celebrated Pharoe’s musician Teitur on Nolwenn Leroy’s new album Le Cheshire Cat e moi. She joined Joby Burgess’s New Noise in their Cardew project and collaborated with visual artist Alessandra Ausenda on a major new art/sound installation, THE OPERATORS, involving a huge dress, a battery of sewing machines and live sewing machinists.
Projects in 2010-11 see Ruth touring extensively and recording on bray and lever harps with FITKIN, as well as working on her latest album /touring project involving new collaborations with celebrated UK artists and musicians. She has performed with Rhodri Davies in a major John Cage retrospective at the Baltic in Gateshead and collaborated at Maida Vale with singer Cevanne on the Late Junction Sessions. She performs again as part of the Will Gregory MOOG Ensemble in his new opera, Piccard in Space at the South Bank. She is also touring in UK and abroad a new score by Adrian Utley and Will Gregory for mixed ensemble to accompany Dreyer’s classic 1928 silent film, the Passion of Joan of Arc.

In 2012 as well as touring her own new work she will be performing with FITKIN on stage in a new opera at the ROH and in a new commission for the Olympics with the LCO.

She has recorded for EMI, Mercury Music, Sony BMG, GFR and Universal.

PRESS for Still Warm

‘Immaculate playing’ BBC Music Magazine

‘Virtuosic mini-concertos’ The Guardian

‘Harps set free into a wonderland of synths and sampling’ Metro

‘Astonishing album’ Resident-Music.com

‘Majestic harp melodies’ Musera