Harpist Ruth Mertens Thompson is passionate about sharing her love of beauty and music with the community and is an active writer, teacher, and performer. An avid promoter of harp history, Ruth has published multiple articles, including a piece on French concertante works in The American Harp Journal.  Ruth teaches private harp lessons and is former teaching fellow for the University of North Texas harp studio and adjunct faculty at Tarrant County College.

Ruth performs regularly and has played with numerous chamber groups and large ensembles, including the New Jersey Chamber Orchestra, Plano Symphony, Abilene Philharmonic, UNT Jazz String Lab Band, and the award-winning UNT HarpBeats. As a member of the UNT HarpBeats, Ruth has traveled to Hong Kong to perform at the 13th World Harp Congress, to Chicago for the annual Lyon & Healy Summer Concert Series, and to San Antonio for the Texas Music Teacher’s Association conference. In Summer 2024 she served as assisant director of the ensemble for the American Harp Society Conference in Orlando. These Harpbeats concerts featured several of Ruth’s arrangements for harp ensemble, including “Orinoco Flow” by Enya and “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction. In addition to her ensemble work, Ruth performs frequently as a soloist. She was a UNT Concerto Competition winner and earned third prize in the Lewisville Lake Symphony Competition for Strings and Harp.

Ruth has been recognized numerous times for her accomplishments on and off the stage, receiving honors such as the UNT Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Strings Award, UNT Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Musicology Award, and the UNT College of Music Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award. Most recently, she received the 2025 American Harp Journal Collegiate Writers Award.

Currently based in Philadelphia, Ruth is completing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of North Texas under the guidance of Dr. Jaymee Haefner. Ruth holds a Master of Music degree from Boston University where she studied with Jessica Zhou of the Boston Symphony, as well as a Bachelor of Music degree from UNT. In the rare moments when she is not playing or talking about music, Ruth is probably in her kitchen baking with inordinate amounts of butter.

To find out if Ruth is available to play for your event, please visit the Contact page.

Featured image: Dino Lusa