Profile

DAME RUTH SAMMUT CASINGENA OSJ FTCL LRSM LTCL Dip.
In Music Studies (University of Malta)

Mum, all round artiste, educator and founder of Journey Movement, Ruth enjoys the great satisfaction of discovering, exposing and nurturing her own son Jake and all the individuals she teaches.

Born on the 26th of March 1970, Ruth’s musical journey started at age nine, when she commenced piano lessons, and emerged into endless hours and several years of intensive studying, performance, pedagogy and dedication to a sound academic and cultural education.

A classically trained musician and broadcaster, Fellow and Licentiate of the Trinity College of Music (London), Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (London), graduate in musicology from the University of Malta, Ruth has furthered her music studies (Master Degree in Voice) for a year at the De Singel Conservatory in Antwerp, Belgium.

Backed up by a twenty five year music teaching career, Ruth has graced the stage for over 28 years. A piano and vocal recitalist whose repertoire ranges from Renaissance to contemporary, she has worked extensively with Maltese and foreign artists, performing as a solo artiste, premiering various Maltese compositions, and performing initially as a chorus girl, and later as a solo soprano in operatic, sacred and chamber music, musical theatre, as well as an actress in plays, landing lead roles in Joconde, Messiah, Cin-ci-La, Il Paese dei Campanelli, A Slice of Saturday Night, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and La Vedova Scaltra.

Whilst teaching voice, piano and music studies, working meticulously with her students with a hollistic appraoch towards artistic performance, Ruth is actively involved in theatre as a singer, pianist, actress, and choir director, as well as fulfilling main roles and guest apprearances in the film and television scene. Television appearances include being resident singer in Saga, vocal coach and judge in Bravi, several guest apprearances/interviews in TV programmes, and (major/lead) acting roles in Ghada Jisbah Ukoll, QalbinNies, Pupi, The Inheritance and Tmien Nota. She has furthered her vocal technique with Mezzo Soprano Lucienne van Dyck in Belgium and with Soprano Denise Mulholland, currently in Malta. She takes music consultations and drawing lessons with Prof. Mro. Pawlu Grech.

Ruth is a fervent contributor to charity through her art, and she is working hand in hand with her students and Journey Choir, (established since June 2007), aiming to take musical performance and voluntary work to institutions.

Over the past six years, Ruth was musical director of Vocal Aid for three years, co-ordinating the programme and directing over 500 choristers at the Mediterranean Conference Centre. These concerts raised money for the Daniel Delicata Memorial Association (June 2004) Puttinu Cares (June 2005) and Id-Dar il-Providenza (June 2006). For two consecutive years, Ruth produced and artistically directed two megashows, Journey (2007) and Journey Evolution (2008) at the Malta Hilton, in aid of the Eden Foundation and Puttinu Cares respectively.

With a passion to serve humanity with her gifts, Ruth strongly believes in the magic of the individual potential of every human being, and on these principles she has founded Journey Movement, an organisation which stresses the uniqueness of the individual and paves the way for self expression, recognition and identity, integrating humanity and art and serving humanity with our talents.

She is currently composing her own music, featuring herself as a cross-over soprano, fusing, both vocally and musically, the purely classical style with modern elements, and basing her works on the Maltese legacy and our cultural heritage. Ruth has launched twelve original compositions in Portugal in mid-July 2009, representing Malta during three festivals of the EU Oralites Project.

Ruth has dedicated her life to music and the theatre, and has a great passion for interpretation and the quest for the individual self. She has been awarded the title of Dame in the Sovereign Order of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta Ecumenical Order, for her contribution in the artistic field.