MARIA Die RUHE turns real life into electronic music.

Producer, singer and live artist MARIA Die RUHE transforms encounters, emotions and everyday sounds into music that moves bodies and invites connection. Her work is driven by curiosity, an appetite for the unexpected and the freedom to create on her own terms.

The name MARIA Die RUHE started as a joke. For all her boldness and restless energy, people around her agreed there was one thing she did not have: Ruhe. Inner stillness. So she put it in her name. The joke became an identity.

At the centre of her music is her voice. Intimate, fierce, playful or raw, it shifts from storytelling to texture, from melody to rhythm. Her sound moves through house, acid, dark disco, indie dance and techno, with jazz and pop woven into its fabric. Genre is a palette, not a rulebook.

LIVE: BETWEEN CONCERT AND CLUB.

On stage, MARIA performs in two formats: a full live set and DJ sets with live vocals.

Her live set brings driving beats, synths, piano and electronics together with vocals that move from intimate to explosive. Moving between carefully composed passages and spontaneous interaction, she blurs the line between concert and dance floor.

Her DJ sets with live vocals leave room for risk and surprise. She mixes her own productions with tracks she loves, layering vocal loops, improvisation and effects into the music. She responds to the room, connects with the crowd and follows the energy as it shifts.

For MARIA, this exchange is part of what keeps club culture alive. Music happens between people: in the tension, the release and the moments when a room moves together. Her journey has taken her from Berlin clubs to stages across Europe, South Africa, Brazil, Australia and the US, with appearances at Fusion Festival, MOYN, 3000Grad, Kater Blau, Sisyphos and beyond.

LESSONS IN LUST — A PROCESS, NOT JUST AN ALBUM.

How do we find joy, desire and human connection in times of crisis, uncertainty and disconnection?

Lessons in Lust is an evolving interdisciplinary project that brings together music, film, movement and human encounters. MARIA’s second album takes shape within this process. Her experience of cancer brought a new urgency to questions of intimacy, the body and what it means to feel alive.

The project takes her beyond the studio. It starts with something real. A person. A place. A moment.

From skydiving to contemporary ballet rehearsals at the Halle Opera, from kitchens and gardens to other artists’ studios, MARIA gathers conversations, voices and sounds from everyday life. Drums, cello, trombone and flute meet synths and electronics. Field recordings become rhythms. Voices become textures. Small sonic accidents find their way into songs. The encounters become the music.

An ongoing video series follows the process from first meeting to finished track, revealing the people and experiences behind the recordings. On stage, these different disciplines come together: MARIA’s live set meets visuals created from the Lessons in Lust actions and encounters. The people, places and movements that shaped the music become part of the performance, connecting each track to the experiences it grew from.

The live set premiered at the opening of Fusion Festival 2026 and continues to evolve with the project: intimate, physical and unpredictable.

AN INDEPENDENT PATH.

Born in Thuringia and based in Leipzig, MARIA’s path has taken her through Berlin and San Francisco. She holds an Artistic and Pedagogical Diploma in Jazz Voice, and her experience across different band formations continues to shape her songwriting, production and approach to the voice as an instrument.

With nearly 20 years on stage, more than 60 original releases and over 25 million streams, she has built a body of work on her own terms. Her debut album, ENARCHY, was independently released in 2023 on her label RTTR (Reduced to the Root). Her catalogue spans independent labels and includes remixes by Matthew Herbert, Moonbootica, Gudrun Gut, Andreas Henneberg and Beth Lydi.

Today, she runs RTTR and EXOFRAME, creating space for music that moves beyond fixed categories. For MARIA, independence is both creative and practical: making the work, shaping its release and deciding how it meets the world.

ARTIST COACHING - WORKING WITH ARTISTS.

Since 2010, MARIA has worked as an artist coach and mentor, with a particular focus on female producers and independent artists.

Her approach connects music, voice, songwriting, production and performance with the practical realities of building a creative life. Drawing on her own experience as an artist and label founder, she helps others develop their artistic language and the skills, structures and confidence to bring it into the world.

There is no blueprint. The starting point is always the artist. What is your voice? What do you want to build around it? From the first idea to a release or live performance, the work makes room for both artistic exploration and concrete decisions about ownership, release strategy, touring and long-term independence.

Making music. Running labels. Working with artists. Going out into the world, listening and creating something new. For MARIA, electronic music is not an escape from real life. It is a way of getting closer to it.

SELECTED APPEARANCES.

Festivals & Open Airs

Fusion Festival · MOYN · 3000Grad · Meeresrausch · Burning Man: IDEATE & EMPATHY · Klangtherapie · About You Pangea · Katzensprung · SNNTG · Hexenwerk · Rocken am Brocken · Open Flair

Clubs

Kater Blau, Berlin · Sisyphos, Berlin · Ritter Butzke, Berlin · Distillery, Leipzig · Südpol, Hamburg · Odonien, Cologne · Harry Klein, Munich · objekt klein a, Dresden · Muna · Freud, Frankfurt · Tanzhaus West, Frankfurt · Waagenbau, Hamburg · Mensch Meier, Berlin

International - Australia / Brazil / Europe / South Africa / US

De Marktkantine, Amsterdam · PLOINK Festival, Norway · Elefant, Oslo · KIFF, Aarau · Schron, Poznań · Persona, Ankara · Amazon Club, Chapecó · Timeless Festival, Cape Town · Skyland Festival, George · Stray L.A., Los Angeles · Monarch, San Francisco · Festival 23, Melbourne · Flowmusic, Byron Bay

Radio

Radio Eins · Sunshine Live · Radio Fritz · Electronic Beats · Sunshine Live · MDR Sputnik Clubperlen

Press

CLASH · DNGD · FAZE MAG · Glamglare NYC · RCDLBL · Süddeutsche Zeitung · Magnetic Mag · METAL Magazine · We are Soundspace