In 1977, Brüning appeared at the first . As a high profile public entertainer she enjoyed exceptional travel privileges, and in 1981 she won third prize at the Kärnten International festival in Klagenfurt. From this point she worked increasingly with the saxophonist . They married in 1982. She participated in the first "Jazztagen" (East German jazz festival), held at Weimar in December 1985. and again, in 1986, at the first International Women's Jazz Festival in Frankfurt, beyond the "internal border" to the west. In 1989, touring with European Jazz Ensemble, she performed "Ich mach ein Lied aus Stille" together with the children's author-poet Eva Strittmatter. She had already toured with the European Ensemble in 1987 and would do so again in 1991. The "Ich mach ein Lied aus Stille" was recorded for a CD also featuring Manfred Schmitz and , which was scheduled for release in 1990, but in the event the recording was never issued, presumably due to political developments in Berlin and more broadly. Post-reunification, in 1993 she took part in the Berlin Jazz Festival, appearing in "Programme 4", in concert with the actress Annekathrin Bürger, the chansoniste and the opera singer Carola Nossek. In 2008 she delivered a concert with Georgie Fame in the Berliner Philharmonie (concert hall). An edited recording of the concert was (re-)issued in 2015.