- cellist, composer. Born in Naarden (NL) in 1954, Reijseger started playing cello at the age of seven. At the Conservatory of Amsterdam his teacher Anner Bijlsma encouraged him to follow his own path in order to develop his musical vocabulary. This resulted in a life time of out-of-the-box and genre-bending collaborations and that enabled Reijseger to grow into a unique musical force.
Recently Reijseger composed for baroque orchestra Forma Antiqua (Volcano Symphony), the Dutch Wind Ensemble and Ensemble Modern. Scoring films for directors Werner Herzog (o.a. The White Diamond, Cave of Forgotten Dreams) and Alex and Andrew Smith (Walking Out) created a new
platform for Reijseger’s music.
Together with the audio loving label Winter&Winter, Ernst Reijseger released over two dozen albums, including film soundtracks. Throughout the years Reijseger gave outstanding solo performances. His solo albums Colla Parte (1997), Tell Me Everything (2008) and Crystal Palace (2014) were highly acclaimed by the international press.
Reijseger's live performances challenge expectations and are build on daring and essential communication. Trio Reijseger Fraanje Sylla moves audiences to tears, showing that music bypasses labels and only requires a sincere connection of spirit.
Reijseger collaborated with musicians from improvised and jazz music (Uri Caine, Han Bennink, Misha Mengelberg’s Instant Composers Pool, Louis Sclavis, Harmen Fraanje), classical and baroque music (Yo Yo Ma, Giovanni Sollima, Erik Bosgraaf) and traditional music (Trilok Gurtu, Cuncordu e Tenore de Orosei, Groove Lélé, Naná Vasconcelos, Mola Sylla).
His ability to interact with various art forms make him a sought after creative partner of poets, dancers, actors, painters, sculptors, photographers and film makers.
So far five documentaries were made about and around Ernst Reijseger, by Cherry Duyns, Jacques Goldstein, Thomas Doebele & Maarten Schmidt, Werner Herzog and Miles O’Reilly.