Ulrike Ruf

Ulrike Ruf is a Berlin-based cellist, sound artist and author and director of interdisciplinary stage works and performances.

Graduate of the HfM “Hanns Eisler” Berlin, she gained important artistic inspiration from her experiences as a musician and performer at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, in Johann Kresnik's Choreographic Theater and through Mexican-american performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña and expanded her experimental instrumental practice in collaboration with contemporary dancers from Sasha Waltz & Guests and Laborgras.

She has developed works for choirs such as Vocalconsort Berlin and Berliner Mädchenchor, collaborated among others with composers such as Iris ter Schiphorst and Rama Gottfried, with Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop, Musicians from Ensemble Mosaik, choreographer Gabriel Galindez Cruz and poet Ulrike Almut Sandig. 

Her soundart and stage works have been shown at Haus des Rundfunks Berlin, Radialsystem V, Elisabethkirche Berlin and Sophiensäle, and broadcast on Deutschlandfunk Kultur. She has performed as a musician or director at MaerzMusik, Klangwerkstatt Berlin, Mexartes, and at festivals in Italy, Belgium, and the USA. She has been awarded numerous scholarships and awards, including a residency at the Kulturakademie Tarabya in Istanbul together with composer Fulya Uçanok in 2026.

In 2024, she began collaborating with cellist Zeynep Ayşe Hatipoğlu, performing at Salt Beyoğlu Istanbul, Exploratorium Berlin, and Richten25.

Their collaborative work focuses on improvised music that moves between different genres, including makam music, contemporary practices, free improvisation, field recordings, and electroacoustic music. 

Since 2025, they have been jointly organizing the series “Friday Evening Improvisations in Cemetery Chapels” with the aim of creating new spaces for experimental music in Berlin, featuring Liz Allbee, Ute Wassermann, Ira Hadžić, Merve Salgar, Karen Lorenz, Olaf Hochherz, Mats Gustafsson, Ignaz Schick, Ufuk Elik.