Jürgen Ruck

The guitarist Jürgen Ruck considers it a special privilege to have shaped the role of his instrument in contemporary music for three decades: as a soloist, chamber and ensemble musician, as a university lecturer and in collaboration with composers.

He regularly performs with the Berlin Philharmonic and Ensemble Modern, with both of which he has longstanding working relationships. Back in 1991 he performed the solo part in the world premiere of György Kurtág’s Grabstein für Stephan under Zoltán Peskó, going on to further performances under Claudio Abbado, Peter Eötvös and Simon Rattle.

As a soloist he has worked with the Scharoun Ensemble, the Ensemble intercontemporain, the London Sinfonietta, PHACE, the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and the WDR, NDR, SWR, SR and RAI Milan Radio Symphony Orchestras.

He has participated in the world premieres of many recent musical milestones, including Frank Zappa’s The Yellow Shark, Hans Zender’s Winterreise, Helmut Lachenmann’s Concertini and Zwei Gefühle and Wolfgang Rihm’s Jagden und Formen. He has also participated in numerous projects with Ensemble Modern.

His repertory encompasses music from the 16th century to the present day. A particular focus is the guitar works of Hans Werner Henze, with whom he collaborated on many occasions. The composer entrusted him with projects including the arrangements and world premieres of two new compositions for guitar duo. The recording of these works with Elena Casoli was awarded an ECHO Klassik in 2000.

As a chamber musician he has performed in various formations and at numerous international festivals.

For several years he has been working on the project Caprichos Goyescos, a cycle of solo compositions specially written for him, each of which references Francisco de Goya’s famous etchings Los Caprichos. The composers involved are prominent figures in contemporary music, such as Bruno Dozza, Clemens Gadenstätter, Detlef Heusinger, Elena Mendoza, Cathy Milliken and José María Sánchez-Verdú.

Jürgen Ruck led the guitar studio at the Darmstadt Summer Course for New Music, and for 30 years has taught a guitar class at the University of Music in Würzburg.