Ernst Reijseger: Picture This

As part of our Legacy series, it is high time to put cellist and composer Ernst Reijseger in the spotlight. And that is not difficult with such a track record: Reijseger provided music for 12 Werner Herzog films and recorded more than 200 albums with musicians from far-flung disciplines.

The La Times calls Reijseger a Genre Bender. As an improvising cellist, he is a creative partner of actors, poets, dancers, painters, sculptors and photographers. With Oscar Isaac and Keegan Michael Key, among others, he played and provided the music for Shakespeare’s Hamlet in NYC in 2017. His connection to our venue is no small one; Reijseger performed at the first BIMHUIS on the Oudeschans back in its opening month in October 1974. Since then, he has appeared on our stage more than 150 times with the likes of Theo Loevendie, ICP, Clusone Trio, Gerry Hemingway and Sean Bergin. Invariably, the music of this Boy Edgar Prize winner remains unpredictable.

So too this evening. He presents a twelve-member agile ensemble under the title Picture This, a name that refers to the imagination and films for which Reijseger composed and brought together musicians from all over the world. Reijseger unites high-flying soloists who are at the same time great ensemble players.

Mola Sylla vocal, Mario Forte violin, Jeffrey Bruinsma violin, Ernst Reijseger cello, Geneviève Verhagen cello, Djoeke Klijzing cello, Luciano Biondini accordion, Harmen Fraanje piano, Mats Eilertsen double bass, Thomas Strønen drums, Allen ‘Gunga’ Purvis drums/percussion