Ruth Bolister studied at Clare College, Cambridge, The Royal Academy of Music in London and the Karlsruhe Hochschule fur Musik.

In 1990 she was runner-up in the woodwind final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition before winning first prize in the Isle of Wight International Oboe Competition in 1993, which led to her Wigmore Hall debut. She has also appeared as a soloist at the Wigmore Hall as part of the Tillet Trust's Young Artists' Platform and the fiftieth anniversary celebrations for the oboe manufacturers T.W. Howarth and Company.

Ruth released a recording of English Oboe Concertos with the Elgar Chamber Orchestra for the ASV label in 2003 to much critical acclaim, and in 2004 she was a soloist on BBC Radio 2's 'Friday Night is Music Night'.

Ruth is Principal Oboe of English National Opera, a position she has held since 1997. She also regularly works as guest principal oboe with other chamber and symphony orchestras in London.