Denton is a member of Sinfonia Spirituosa and was recently appointed as an Apprentice conductor of the Joie de Vivre Choir, where she will appear as oboe soloist, conductor, and choral singer this season. A native of St. Andrews, Manitoba, performance opportunities have taken Denton across Canada and the United States, including solo performances at the Sweetwater Music Festival, Rezonance Baroque Ensemble, and Seicento Baroque Ensemble. As an oboist Denton has performed with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Theatre of Early Music, Georgetown Bach Chorale, Nota Bene Baroque, Parish House Baroque, and Manitoba Underground Opera. She has performed under the direction of Jeanne Lamon, Daniel Taylor, Steven Devine, Kevin Mallon, Kenneth Slowik, and Lorna Peters, among others.
Denton was the founding general manager of the Toronto Bach Festival from 2016 to 2019, where she worked alongside her baroque oboe mentor, Artistic Director John Abberger. At the University of Northern Colorado, she was the Marketing & Public Relations Coordinator for the innovative event StART Salon: “Blank Slate: Create the Future You Want,” a free exhibit of visual art, music, theatre, and dance reflecting on a post-pandemic world in March 2022. She has also worked as an administrator with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, The Toronto Consort, and Amherst Early Music Festival.
Denton is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Arts degree in Music History and Literature at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado. She holds a Master of Music in Historical Performance degree from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Manitoba. Denton has also received training at the Amherst Early Music Festival, Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra Summer and Winter Institute, and the National Youth Band of Canada. She is grateful to her mentors and teachers John Abberger, Jeanne Lamon, Daniel Taylor, Stuart Sladden, Stephanie Martin, Robin MacMillan, and Doug Bairstow.
Denton recently returned to the Manitoba prairies, Treaty One territory, the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Lakota, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and the homeland of the Red River Métis Nation, where she resides with her husband Vijay Chalasani.
Ruth Denton leads a multifaceted musical career as an oboist, choral conductor, musicologist, and administrator. Denton was the founding artistic director of Cor Unum Ensemble (CUE), a collective created to connect like-minded vocal and instrumental young artists in the Toronto early music scene. CUE mounted three highly successful seasons of repertoire ranging from vocal chamber music to mixed large ensembles, including an unconducted production of J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion under the guest direction of acclaimed British violinist Adrian Butterfield, and a bold gender-bending staging of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas co-produced with OperaQ.
