Ursula Skaug had a very musical upbringing; she took violin, piano and choir classes until she fell for the warm sound of the viola. She started learning the viola with Julia Dinerstein at the Hellendaal Violin Institute in Rotterdam. In 2021 Ursula graduated with highest honours from her Masters at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where she studied with Mikhail Zemtsov. During the 2021/2022 season Ursula was a talent at the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra Academy, an intensive internship programme about orchestra- and chamber music playing. She recently (2022/2023) started studying with Bruno Giuranna at the Stauffer Academy in Cremona, Italy.
Ursula won various awards, amongst them the main prize at the Maassluise Muziekweek, the first prize at the Britten Altvioolconcours and a second prize at the Prinses Christina Concours Rotterdam. In the Summer of 2018 she was the principal violist of the National Youth Orchestra of The Netherlands (NJO) on tour to Berlin. She had solo appearances with the Concerto Grosso Ensemble, Britten Youth String Orchestra, the Delft Symphony Orchestra and the Tollens Ensemble. Ursula participated in masterclasses with (among others) Jennifer Stumm, Nobuko Imai, Alexander Gordon, Lawrence Power and Isabelle van Keulen.
Currently, she substitutes in several ensembles and orchestras, like the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Kamerata Zuid, Asko|Schönberg Ensemble and DoelenEnsemble.
Ursula plays on a Daniël Royé viola built for her in 2017.