Biography
Ruth Killius, whose name is most closely associated with the Zehetmair Quartet and an array of other chamber formations, maintains a parallel career as a solo violist. Contemporary repertoire occupies a central place in her activities, resulting in numerous premieres of works by leading composers.
She entered the world in Lahr, Baden-Württemberg, on June 20, 1968, at that time part of West Germany. Ulrich Koch and Kim Kashkashian served as her principal instructors. During the 1990s she held the position of principal violist with the Camerata Bern orchestra; her path first crossed that of the ECM label in 1995, when she contributed to the album Giya Kancheli: Exil, which featured soprano Maacha Deubner. Three years later, in 2003, she joined oboist Heinz Holliger, violinist Thomas Zehetmair, and cellist Thomas Demenga for the ECM recording Lauds and Lamentations: Music of Elliott Carter and Isang Yun. From that point onward she became a recurring presence on the label in freshly composed contemporary scores.
Orchestras that have engaged her as soloist encompass the Boston Symphony, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, and the Residentie Orkest Den Haag in the Netherlands. Festival appearances regularly take her to the Lucerne Festival, the Edinburgh International Festival, and the Helsinki Festival. Killius and Zehetmair also perform as a duo or, with cellist Rosie Biss, as a trio; on her own she plays solo viola, committing Hindemith’s sonatas for the instrument to the NomadMusic label in 2018. Although the pair concentrates largely on new music, they recorded Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola, and orchestra, K. 364, in 2009 for the Glossa label with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. Their 2011 ECM release Manto & Madrigals presented duos by major composers that included Holliger, whose double concerto Janus was written for the two musicians, Peter Maxell Davies, and Bohuslav Martinu. The duo returned to ECM in 2023, this time supported by the Royal Northern Sinfonia in music by Beethoven, Bartók, and John Casken.
She entered the world in Lahr, Baden-Württemberg, on June 20, 1968, at that time part of West Germany. Ulrich Koch and Kim Kashkashian served as her principal instructors. During the 1990s she held the position of principal violist with the Camerata Bern orchestra; her path first crossed that of the ECM label in 1995, when she contributed to the album Giya Kancheli: Exil, which featured soprano Maacha Deubner. Three years later, in 2003, she joined oboist Heinz Holliger, violinist Thomas Zehetmair, and cellist Thomas Demenga for the ECM recording Lauds and Lamentations: Music of Elliott Carter and Isang Yun. From that point onward she became a recurring presence on the label in freshly composed contemporary scores.
Orchestras that have engaged her as soloist encompass the Boston Symphony, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, and the Residentie Orkest Den Haag in the Netherlands. Festival appearances regularly take her to the Lucerne Festival, the Edinburgh International Festival, and the Helsinki Festival. Killius and Zehetmair also perform as a duo or, with cellist Rosie Biss, as a trio; on her own she plays solo viola, committing Hindemith’s sonatas for the instrument to the NomadMusic label in 2018. Although the pair concentrates largely on new music, they recorded Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola, and orchestra, K. 364, in 2009 for the Glossa label with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. Their 2011 ECM release Manto & Madrigals presented duos by major composers that included Holliger, whose double concerto Janus was written for the two musicians, Peter Maxell Davies, and Bohuslav Martinu. The duo returned to ECM in 2023, this time supported by the Royal Northern Sinfonia in music by Beethoven, Bartók, and John Casken.
Albums
