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The guitarist Jürgen Ruck feels it a privilege to have been able to actively shape the role of his instrument in contemporary music for three decades, as a soloist, chamber and ensemble musician, as a university teacher and especially in his collaboration with composers.

The close connection with the Frankfurt Ensemble Modern and the Berlin Philharmonic is particularly striking. The premiere performances of Zappas "Yellow Shark", Zenders "Winterreise", Lachenmanns „Zwei Gefühle“ and "Concertini" as well as Rihms „Jagden und Formen“, milestones in recent music history, are representative of countless projects with the Ensemble Modern. At the premiere of Kurtágs „Grabstein für Stephan“ in 1991, Ruck played the solo part with the Berlin Philharmonic under Zoltán Peskó and in further concerts under Claudio Abbado, Peter Eötvös and Sir Simon Rattle, and he is also a regular guest musician in the orchestra.

As a soloist, he has performed with the Scharoun Ensemble, the Ensemble InterContemporaine Paris, the London Sinfonietta, Phace| contemporary music Vienna, and the radio orchestras of WDR, NDR, SWR, SR, RAI Milan, and ORF Vienna.

Ruck's repertoire encompasses music from the 16th century to the present day. He performs in a wide variety of chamber music ensembles and has performed at numerous international festivals.

"Jürgen Ruck [...] possesses great poetic musicality, which, thanks to his unusual technical ability, is apparently effortlessly translated into acting. I really love Ruck's interpretations of my music," Hans Werner Henze said, whose guitar works are a special focus of Ruck's repertoire. Henze entrusted him, among other things, with the arrangement and world premiere of two new compositions for guitar duo. The CD recording of these works together with Elena Cásoli received an ECHO KLASSIK 2000.

For several years, Jürgen Ruck has been performing successfully with his project der "Goyesque whims", a cycle of solo compositions written especially for him, each based on Francisco Goya's famous series of etchings the "whims" relate. The composers are outstanding representatives of New Music, and are represented here by: Detlef Heusinger, José María Sánchez Verdú, Clemens Gadenstätter, Cathy Milliken, Bruno Dozza and Elena Mendoza.

Jürgen Ruck headed the guitar studio at the Darmstadt Summer Courses. He teaches a successful guitar class at the Würzburg University of Music.

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