Mr Ruben Palma

Profile

Australian-Salvadoran cellist Dr. Ruben Palma is an award-winning freelance musician based in Sydney. Ruben began to play the cello aged six, 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.

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Ruben is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, the HfMT Köln, and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (where he graduated with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree with a dissertation on ornamentation in J.S. Bach's Six Cello Suites, as well as a recording of the complete Bach Cello Suites). He regularly performs both Australia-wide and abroad, including performances at the Adelaide International Cello Festival, 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.

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Ruben teaches at the Conservatorium High School, where he was once a student himself. Having studied in both the U.S.A. and Europe (Germany), Ruben's teaching draws upon a wide range of influences and ideas taken from both the American and European schools, as well as his experience as a freelance musician.