Ruth Kemna studied viola and applied theatre in Hanover, London and Salzburg. She is a violist, performer and director. Her artistic work is concerned with contemporary music, the bodies of musicians and instruments and the socially critical roles they can play. is a musician experimenting with performance, dance, circus, video and socio-political actions. As a chamber musician, she has played at numerous international festivals such as Kammermusikfest Lockenhaus, Austria, Davos Festival, Switzerland, CTM Festival Berlin, classical:next Rotterdam, Heidelberger Frühling or the techno Festival Fusion, Germany. She was principal viola of the Hamburger Camerata and had a temporary contract with the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, played with the Studio Musikfabrik Cologne, the Ensemble Modern, the Klangforum Vienna and with the Orchester im Treppenhaus. Her viola theatre play “Biography:reset oder auf der Suche nach Kylvirien” was awarded the 2018 Award for Excellence by the University Mozarteum Salzburg as an innovative master’s degree. Since 2018 she accompanies the largest gymnastic show in Europe, the Feuerwerk der Turnkunst as a solo musician and performer. In February 2020 she was part of the postcolonial mine-oratory “Hercules de Lubumbashi“ in the DR Congo. Currently she lives in Palermo to develop a music theatre performance dealing with the border between the European and African continent in the Mediterranean. She has toured through many countries in Europe, South America, China, the DR Congo and South Africa.

Ruth Kemna will perform at Morion on November 6, during the festival launch party Voices of the Undercurrents.