Winter 2023

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Encounters
A conversation with violinist Ruth Palmer
Let’s begin at the end. The last work in the
programme for ‘Scoring Suffrage’, a recital
of music by women composers held at
the Lyceum in Florence in September,
was ‘Piece for Ruth’, by Venezuelan
pianist and composer Gabriela Montero.
The ‘Ruth’ in question is Ruth Palmer,
the acclaimed violinist, and one half of
‘Scoring Suffrage’s’ creative team, with
whom I was now having a coffee at the
Hayward Gallery on London’s South
Bank. I asked her if any one of the pieces
in the recital was more challenging than
the others. “They all have their own
challenges in different ways,” she said.
For example, “the Montero has one tricky
bit, but it was written for me, so I can
do what I want with it.” Had she known
that Montero was going to write it for
her? “I asked her to write it for me,” she
replied, and proceeded to recount the
improbable story of their initial meeting.
“I used to live not far from here on
Fleet Street,” Ruth recalled. “One day,
as I was crossing the road to go to the
stationer’s, I was hit by a scooter that
sent me literally flying horizontally
over the bus lane.” The scooter driver,
Richard, had been in a terrible hurry to
get somewhere and had filtered down
the wrong side of the road. Luckily, Ruth
was fine but for a few scratches. As it
happened, a police officer had witnessed
the accident and asked if she wanted
to press charges. Ruth declined, saying
she wouldn’t press charges so long as
6 Restoration Conversations • Winter 2023