Dr. Ruben Palma | Violoncello
























































photo: keith saunders

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.

"Ruben Palma plays with great clarity and precision. He is a cellist whose playing comes from the soul and speaks to the soul, especially in the works of Bach, and his love for the cello is truly evident in the sincereity of his performances".

– Catherine Hewgill, principal cellist Sydney Symphony Orchestra

"I have known Ruben for many years, and from our first encounter have enjoyed his exquisite playing and inquisitive mind. His dedication to his music is exemplary and always an inspiration".

– Johannes Moser, soloist

"... Palma negotiated the shifts and turns of this music persuasively, moving between cabaret music and contemporary techniques with consummate ease. For me, this will remain one of the stand-out solo performances of the 2022 Canberra International Music Festival" 

Limelight magazine, 5/5/22

awards


Postgraduate Research Support Scheme, Sydney University

Research Training Program Scholarship (formerly Australian Postgraduate Awards)

Finalist Australian Cello Awards

ROSL ARTS Scholarship

MOST® Travel Grant

Willoughby Symphony Orchestra Prize 

Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now Scholarship 

Kölner Tanz und Theater Preis (SK Stiftung Kultur) 

Australia Council Skills and Arts Development grant 

Gwen Nisbet Music Scholarship

John Gaitskell Mensa Award

Peg Oldfield Prize

Lady Tumer Exhibition 

Gwen Prockter Prize 

Ian Potter Foundation Cultural Trust Grant 

Australia Council Buzz Grant 

NSW finalist: Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards 

Ruth Pfanner Undergraduate Scholarship 

ANU / CSO National Orchestral Scholarship 

1st prize: New York American String Teachers Association Solo Competition 

photo: Christian Faustus

education


- Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) – Sydney Conservatorium of Music

- Master of Music Violoncello Solo (MMus) – Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln (class: Nicolas Altstaedt)

- Bachelor of Music Performance (Honours) (BMus(Hons)) – Victorian College of the Arts

- Internationale Sommerakademie Mozarteum

- Australian National Academy of Music

- Meadowmount School of Music

- Sydney Conservatorium High School