Thomas Ruge (violoncello) comes from Bremen and studied the violoncello most recently with Ottomar Borwitzky at Berlin’s Karajan Academy. While still a student, he was principal cellist in various orchestras, such as the European Youth Orchestra and the Lucerne and Aix-en-Provence Festival Orchestras. After several years in the orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Berlin Philharmonic, Thomas Ruge became section leader and subsequently deputy principal violoncellist in the Munich Philharmonic.
In addition, he is also a solo cellist with the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, with the Philharmonic String Soloists and regularly as a solo assistant with leading orchestras such as the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Saxon State Orchestra, the Bavarian State Opera, the Munich Radio Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the Hessian Radio, the Rotterdam Philharmonic and from “Musica Aeterna”. From 1989 to 1998 he participated in appearances of the 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic, and was also a founding member of the Nadolny Cello Quartet and the Mullova Ensemble. Thomas Ruge has won two prizes from the Brahms Society. Since 2003 he has worked as a founding member of Claudio Abbado’s Lucerne Festival Orchestra.