CARRUTH, Marlowe

Marlowe Carruth is an American composer, pianist, singer and music educator. She was born in 1958 in North Carolina and began playing melodies on the piano at the age of three. She studied classical piano in her hometown of Rocky Mount and later attended Meredith College in Raleigh, where she earned a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance and music education. In 1980, the college named her a Presser Scholar as its outstanding senior music student.

Carruth is the daughter of trumpeter and orchestrator Cherry Folger, who worked for the Terrytoons animation studio and was the first female trumpeter to perform with the North Carolina Symphony. Folger died when Carruth was four, but the music and compositions she left behind influenced her daughter’s later artistic development.

After many years devoted to performing, singing and teaching, Carruth began composing relatively late in her career. Her music belongs mainly to the contemporary instrumental and new-age piano repertoire. She writes lyrical and accessible piano miniatures, sometimes presented with orchestral accompaniment. Her style reflects the influence of Chopin, Debussy, cinematic music and contemporary pianist-composers, while its subjects frequently relate to spirituality, hope, peace and the natural world.

Carruth released her debut EP, Eternal Light, in 2016. It contains six original compositions: Eternal Light, Peacemaker, Little Nocturne, Prayer for Peace, Manna and Cosmos. Other works include Afternoon Dreaming, A New Morning, Facing the Storm, Waltz Impressions, Pregando, Comfort and Joy and Seeds of Hope (For the Children of Ukraine). The last of these was written as a musical expression of solidarity with Ukrainian children.

In 2023, Carruth’s Pregando, a nocturne in F-sharp minor, was selected for the anthology 22 Nocturnes for Chopin by Women Composers. The collection was presented at Steinway Hall in London, where the work was performed by pianist Rose McLachlan.