THILO RUCK

Guitarist / contemporary music / electric guitar / improvisation

Thilo Ruck is a guitarist specialising in contemporary music. Working across classical and electric guitar, his practice connects 20th- and 21st-century repertoire, new commissions, improvisation and electronics.

He has given more than 100 world premieres and worked closely with composers including Beat Furrer, Helmut Lachenmann, Bernhard Lang, Steven Takasugi and Jennifer Walshe. A central part of his practice is the development of new repertoire in collaboration with composers — exploring how instrumental technique, amplification, electronics and performance can continually reshape what the guitar is capable of being.

Ruck performs internationally as a soloist and is artistic co-director and guitarist of the trio Pony Says. He has appeared as a guest with ensembles including Aleph Guitar Quartet, ascolta, Ensemble recherche, MaM, NEuE and Staatsorchester Stuttgart.

His performances have been presented at festivals including CTM Berlin, the Darmstadt Summer Course, ECLAT, Montreal New Music, New Music Dublin, Musikfest Bern, the George Enescu International Festival, Rainy Days Luxembourg and Ultraschall Berlin, as well as at venues including Berghain Berlin, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Staatsoper Stuttgart.

RESEARCH / TEACHING

Alongside his performance practice, Ruck works in music theory and artistic research. His current research focuses on the electric guitar, virtuosity and forms of musical control that remain deliberately unstable — between precision, resistance, feedback and improvisation.

He teaches guitar, ear training and music theory at the University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart.

EDUCATION

Ruck studied classical guitar, contemporary music and music theory and completed the Konzertexamen in contemporary music with distinction.