October 2013

Here’s another short update about a long list of recent activities! As announced in the last batch of news, Markus played the WOMAD Russia Festival with Namgar in September, and everybody involved agreed that the gig went great. So did the solo US shows in October, which included a professionally filmed duo concert with Tim Motzer. A low resolution version of the 90 minute live stream production (which couldn’t be transmitted due to technical problems) can be viewed online for a few more days here.

The US stint also included a recording session with the amazing Angelica Sanchez and Tony Geballe for a future release, and the third Touch Guitar Circle seminar co-led by Markus and Trey Gunn in Seattle. Another course is now likely to happen in South America in the first half of 2014 – we’ll post news as soon as we have them.

Many new tour dates are now also listed on the “Upcoming gigs” page, including another Namgar concert in Russia, The Crimson ProjeKct‘s first concerts in New Zealand and Australia as well as their first and extensive European tour. There’s a leg of Stick Men touring on the west coast of the USA in January and the Cruise to the Edge in April as well.

As always, much is also going on in terms of audio production and mixing in addition to the usual heavy organizing and strategizing. We’ll be able to present new releases soon. For now, the most recent Boddy/Reuter collaboration Colour Division is barely a month old, and we highly recommend you give it a listen! – TR / info@markusreuter.com

September 2013

Has it really been 1 1/2 months already since the last update? A lot has happened since mid-July, and a lot is going on at the moment. The Touch Guitar Circle Seminar with Trey Gunn and Markus in Inzing, Austria was a big success for all involved, and a great next step for the TGC. Trey has recently blogged about it here and you’ll find a short video from one of the music sessions at the end of this post. Markus hit the road directly afterwards, touring in the US with Stick Men and following up with a couple of dates in Italy and Germany. He’s currently back in Germany before flying to Pyatigorsk later in September to play the famed WOMAD Russia festival with Namgar, for whom he’s also assuming the role of musical director. Markus will then be returning to the US in October for solo concerts in King of Prussia, Philadelphia and New York, and the third Touch Guitar Circle seminar with Trey in Seattle. See the “upcoming concerts” section for updated live dates and the TGC website for info on the Seattle course.

In terms of releases, lots of effort is still going into the Todmorden 513CD/DVD release. There really are a lot of threads to keep together and parts to match, but it will be very much worth the effort. We can’t wait to share it. The next release will be the new collaboration album with Ian Boddy called Colour Division, which will be released on October 8 on Ian’s DiN label. The stereo mix of TUNER’s “FACE” album is also completed, a crowd funding campaign for a 5.1 mix and nice packaging are currently being looked into. We also have the fresh news that there will be Stick Men, TUNER and Todmorden 513-related apps. We are currently talking with developers about this.

As always, see the Markus Reuter Facebook page for more regular updates and interaction, or get in touch with us at info(at)markusreuter.com. – TR

July 2013

Hi all, here’s a quick roundup of what Markus has been up to and what he is working on at the moment.

Markus has been composing a lot of new music recently – recordings for a new solo ambient album are in the can, and work on pieces for a “rock album” as well as two new orchestral pieces is well under way. However, after the successful PledgeMusic campaign, Todmorden 513 postproduction will remain the creative focus for some time yet, and the work is also the main priority of our current promotional activities. We are in the process of assembling Group 33, a street team with the aim to carry the word about Markus and his work further out into the world. Please write to info(at)markusreuter.com if you’re interested in participating, and we’ll provide you with further information.

Next week will see the second Touch Guitar Circle seminar with Markus and Trey Gunn after last year’s successful premiere. Markus will head to the USA immediately after the course for a short tour with Stick Men, followed by a couple of European Dates. September might see some concerts with Namgar, but that is still in the works, and in October Markus will be back in the US for a couple of solo concerts and another Touch Guitar Circle seminar with Trey in Seattle. Please check the upcoming dates section regularly for updated itinerary, visitwww.touchguitarcircle.com for infos on the Seattle course and watchMarkus’ Facebook page for all the freshest info.

Recent releases include the Fletcher | Fletcher | Reuter cover version of Mike Oldfield’s “Island” which was released on Lee’s Bandcamp page as a digital single in June. In October, the new Boddy/Reuter CD “Colour Division” will be released on Ian Boddy’s DiN label (as DiN43). Markus and Tobias have also finished producing the Blast Unicorn debut album – read and hear more about this very unique project on the Blast Unicorn Facebook page. – TR / info(at)markusreuter.com

May 2013

I have been on the road for almost 8 weeks. There was a tour of Japan, the USA, Canada, and Mexico, the premiere of TM513, continuing work on the new Boddy/Reuter album, and most recently the mix/production of the ‘Blast Unicorn’ album. I’m on a roll, and I hope to find the time to write more new music very soon. There are several new ideas that need to get out!

For now, please have a listen to a 13-minute excerpt of TM513, performed by the Colorado Chamber Orchestra.

More soon,
Markus

 

Todmorden 513 Orchestral Rehearsal

Markus has just returned from Denver, Colorado, where he worked on the orchestral score of Todmorden 513 together with arranger/conductor Thomas Blomster, and an orchestral rendition of his piece “Mariola”. Reading rehearsals and classes with the Colorado Chamber Orchestra (Todmorden 513) and the Youth Orchestra of the Rockies (Mariola) went very well. Filmmaker Jack Casadone flew in to document the process and interview Markus and Thomas. It is our intention to make some of this material available quickly – more on this soon. Meanwhile, here’s a short video recorded by Whitney Leary. – TR / info(at)markusreuter.com

2012 in review

Here’s a quick round up of most of Markus’ public work in 2012:

Markus has played more than 70 concerts this past year. Concert-wise, 2012 began with the final two gigs of centrozoon’s We Will Tongue You Tour, followed by Stick Men tours in North America, South America, Russia and the UK. June and July were spent touring with The Crimson ProjeKct, opening for Dream Theater on a massive North American tour, while October and November saw an expansive Stick Men tour covering mainland Europe.

“It was again very rewarding to get conformation that my systematic and disciplined touch guitar practice has prepared me well for touring and playing a repertoire”, says Markus, “but I also feel that my playing benefitted a lot from the many concerts, and that my understanding of certain aspects gained in depth.” This resulted in considerable developments in The Family, as Markus calls the set of exercises cultivated in the Touch Guitar Circle, and the addition of the New Daughter, the Godmother and the Stepfather exercises.

In June, still before these additions, the Touch Guitar Circle held a one week seminar in Austria, with Trey Gunn and Markus teaching and working with a group of new and experienced touch style players from Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the UK and the USA. This was considered a great success by all involved, and the Touch Guitar Circle hopes to present this course format again in the near future, and also on other continents.

After the Summer US Tour, Markus also guested at the Three Of A Perfect Pair camp hosted by Adrian Belew, Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto in Big Indian, NY, USA.

2012 was also another good year for new Reuter releases and productions. New albums on which Markus worked as a composer, player and (co-)producer include “Modus Novus” by the Quartet for the End of Time, “Same Time Next Life” by Adrian Benavides, the two versions of “Boner” as well as the “Fire” sessions by centrozoon, “Open” by Stick Men, “Faith in Worthless Things” by Lee Fletcher (featuring Markus Reuter and Lisa Fletcher) and “Lament”, the duo album with Stephen Parsick.

Albums on which Markus produced but sometimes also played on include the “Echosystem” EP by Specimen 13 and the album “Form” by Alexander Dowerk’s project, ZweiTon. The “Cool Drink Town” EP by SchnAAK was released while Markus also worked on their follow-up EP “SchnAAK and the Rundu Choir”. Most prominently, Stick Men released “Open”, an album of improvisations, and, after a successful crowd-funding campaign, the new studio album “Deep”. Available only to pledgers so far, the official release is set for February 2013. In September Markus produced “The Dawn of the Foremothers” album by Namgar, also to be released in 2013.

In addition to that, producer Lee Fletcher and Markus launched “Older Than God”, Lee’s documentary feature film about Markus’ work and his network of friends and collaborators, as an ongoing series of episodes on www.olderthangod.com.

Many exciting projects are in the works, the most prominent of which is the orchestral performance of “Todmorden 513” by noted conductor Thomas Blomster in Denver, CA on April 18. Markus and Tobias have been working on providing Thomas with the tons of complex data needed to orchestrate the piece, and Markus is currently staying with Thomas to help with the monumental task.

We’re looking forward to regularly sharing the news on this with you here in the near future, so please check back often!
– TR / info(at)markusreuter.com

January 2013

Happy New Year! It’s about time to share a bit of news: I’m happy to announce that Tobias Reber is now working for me as my personal assistant. He’ll help manage my agenda and my many jobs, do business communication (info@markusreuter.com) and promotional work and assist with his music knowledge. We have been working together on projects such as centrozoon (Tobias also booked the We Will Tongue You Tour), Todmorden 513, in the Touch Guitar Circle and many others, so I’m excited about this new collaboration!