The Twisted Tale of Bloody Mary- Portraits End

Ruth Chan is a composer. Ruth started her career as a pianist, having made her first TV appearance when she was just nine years old. By the age of ten she was regularly accompanying local choirs, leading her to perform at International Festivals such as the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod. As a pianist, she frequently won regional music competitions. Ruth read music at Oxford University, where she specialised in orchestration and composition. She continued her education at the Royal College of Music, obtaining a Masters in Composition for Screen, where she studied with leading film composers such as Patrick Doyle, Gabriel Yared, Joseph Horovitz and Dario Marianelli.

Music theatre, opera, dance credits include:  'Doncastrian Chalk Circle' (National Theatre/Cast in Doncaster); 'Beauty and the Seven Beasts' (The Opera Story, Brixton Jamm);‘The Hatchling’ (Spectacular outdoor show at Plymouth Hoe and The Platinum Jubilee Pageant); Between Constellations (Pittsburgh Opera Festival & Grimeborn Festival); The Triumph of Time for clarinet trio and actor (Thailand International Composition Festival, Pianoforte Studio Chicago, Shakespearean Theatre Conference Stratford, Ontario); Mokita (Hong Kong Arts Festival); From the Top (Hong Kong Arts Festival); Turandot Reimagined (Tête-à-Tête Opera & Grimeborn Festival); Piccadilly Revisited (Chinese Arts Now, Royal Opera House, Hong Kong Arts Festival, UK Now Festival Beijing); Moon’s Magnetism (Rich Mix, Albany, Trafalgar Square) and As in a Dream (Cambridge University Chinese Orchestra - West Road Concert Hall). Ruth was also the Composer-in-Residence for Endelienta in 2016, Artist-in-Residence for Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra in 2014, finalist composer for the Opera Up Close’s Flourish New Opera Competition in 2014 and was in the National Theatre’s Music Theatre Group scheme in 2018/9. Her re-orchestration of Puccini’s Madam Butterfly for Opera Up Close has finished touring the UK just before the pandemic in 2020.

Theatre credits include: Strange Tales (Traverse Theatre/Grid Iron Theatre), Hedda Tesman (Chichester Festival Theatre); mini-musical Frankie and the Crow (Unicorn Theatre); Taming of the Shrew (Royal Shakespeare Company); Mountains: The Dreams of Lily Kwok (Royal Exchange Manchester/Yellow Earth Theatre); Snow in Midsummer (Royal Shakespeare Company - nominated for The Stage Debut Award for Best Music, 2017); Shangri-La (Finborough Theatre), Ikea the Whale (Fringe Festival North Devon); The Last Days Of Limehouse (Yellow Earth Theatre) and double bill Magical Chairs and There’s Only One Wayne Lee (Southwark Playhouse & Beijing International Fringe Festival). 

Ruth’s soundtrack for silent film Around China With A Movie Camera (British Film Institute) has been performed at Flatpack Film Festival and China Changing Festival at Royal Festival Hall. She has also composed for television documentaries including A Very British Airline (BBC); Attack of the Pentagon (Discovery Channel) and The Trouble With Pirates (BBC). She has also assisted composer Dario Marianelli for numerous films including the soundtrack for Pride & Prejudice which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score.