about

Australian-Salvadoran cellist Dr. Ruben Palma is a freelance musician living and working on unceded Gadigal land. Ruben began to play the cello aged 6, and spent nine years studying with Lindy Reksten at the Canberra School of Music. He later studied with Julian Smiles, Howard Penny (at the Australian National Academy of Music), and Nicolas Altstaedt (at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln), and also undertook masterclasses and lessons with Steven Isserlis, David Geringas, Johannes Moser, Alban Gergardt, Uzi Wiesel, Maria Kliegel, Gabriel Schwabe, Pieter Wispelwey, Daniel Yeadon, and Gary Hoffman.

Ruben is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, the HfMT Köln, and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (graduating with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree with a dissertation on ornamentation in J.S. Bach's Six Cello Suites & a recording of the complete Bach Cello Suites). He regularly performs both Australia-wide and abroad, including performances at the Adelaide International Cello Fesitval, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Canberra International Music Festival, and the Crossroads Chamber Music Festival. As soloist, Ruben has performed concerti by Schumann, Elgar, and Haydn, as well as Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations.

Ruben was a state finalist in the Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards, a finalist and prizewinner in the inaugural Australian Cello Awards, an Australian Chamber Orchestra Emerging Artist, and a Sydney Symphony Orchestra Fellow. His performances have been broadcast by Australian Digital Concert Hall, ABC Classic FM, 702 ABC Sydney, 3MBS, and FM 102.5 Sydney Fine Music. Ruben plays on a 2017 Yanbing Chen cello.