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Juergen Reiter

About Me

Juergen hits the local music scene of his hometown munich at age 17. He hones his skills at the sweelinck conservatory of amsterdam, in paris under john cage colleague joelle leandre and finally at suny purchase, new york where he graduates with a masters degree in music in 2001.

Juergen played and studied with artists such as kevin mahogany, lester bowie, monty waters, scott colley, todd coolman and jon faddis. He played in the opening act for ray charles in 1993.

Juergen performed at legendary CBGB's (New York), Knitting Factory (New York), Smoke (New York), Else's (Montreal), Studio 303 (Montreal), Theatre Garage (Minneapolis), Waterfront Theatre (Vancouver), Meander (Amsterdam) and Unterfahrt (Munich).

In 2003 juergen invites vocalist/laptopartist hester boverhuis of amsterdam and kai wolff of berlin to join the fun. Together with hester he writes the music and literature performance “breakdown on paradise blvd” showdown in three acts, which they perform in munich at laden 13. the show contains cut-ups by william burroughs, hunter s. thompson and the grimm brothers, plus fragments taken from a conversation of david bowie and william burroughs. it stages exceptional surreal circumstances of life in sound, word and picture.

Following the show juergen invites to munich the amsterdam salonorchestra rouge&noir to perform chansons from the 1920's.

Shortly thereafter juergen presents yet another performance with hester boverhuis on vocals/laptop. “the hare and the dog” tells fairytales from various cultures.

“The world's eerie sound” is a follow up show juergen does with hester at the performance series “bewegungsfreiheit” (freedom of movement) at literaturhaus munich, making the audience drift with all senses into a magical world of fairytales both dreary and cheerful.

In july 2003 juergen plays the international festival of poetry and literature, which takes place annually in all literaturhaus-cities in germany.

The debut album “wintermaerchen” of his group ORkAaN FAbLeS hits stores in november 2003. it's a collection of fairytales and songs of the world of everlasting ice and it's many surreal creatures. the sounds on this album are so cold, you will have to break them off your speakers and melt them in the fire to be able to listen to them!

In 2004 juergen goes back to new york to work on music he wrote over a stretch of 3 years. the result is the debut album “no trespassing” of his group ORkAaN ORkEstRA, released in april 2004. the album receives wide critical acclaim and worldwide airplay on both major and independent radiostations.

“uptOwn and thE brOnX” is a video project juergen films, edits and scores in 2005. it's available as a free podcast download on the internet. the short film shows a ride on the 1-train of new york city, which connects most of the jazzclubs on manhattans westside, and therefore is one of juergen's most frequented lines. the film demonstrates that the conductors of the mta are the one and only rappers alive.

The 2005/06 recording “let's get it on tonight” is the first collaboration with new york rapper jus nyce. it is being promoted during the 2006 soccer worldchampionship in germany and receives about 59000 online hits.

Also in 2006 juergen goes to new york again to produce ”the change up” for rapper jus nyce. it's said to be “...the ultimate urban real recognizes real brooklyn-bred hip hop experience”.

Later in 2006 and going well into 2007 juergen records the audiobook series “italienisches aus der lauschbar” together with his wife frau viola. the series receives wide critical acclaim and is featured in a great variety of german lifestyle magazines.

Besides being an artist and composer, juergen, over the last couple of years, produced numerous soundscapes for europes biggest live tv event (15million viewers average) “wetten, dass...?”

He resides with his family in munich, sicily and new york.