Heribert Leuchter

Heribert Leuchter (* 1954 in Aachen ) is a German jazz musician ( soprano , alto and baritone saxophone ), band leader and composer .

Life

Leuchter studied mechanical engineering from 1972 to 1978 with a degree in engineering at RWTH Aachen University , before studying saxophone at the Rhineland Music Academy from 1979 to 1984 . In 1980 he completed a study visit at Berklee College of Music in Boston .

Since 1982 he has worked as a freelance musician, composer, arranger , band leader, film, television and stage music producer and as musical director in various theater productions, e.g. B. Line 1, directed by Stefan Huber , Theater Aachen 1989. He wrote two works for the stage with the cabaret artist and lyricist Wendelin Rader: the rock-pop opera Der Fuchs based on Goethe's Reinike Fuchs and the chamber musical Keimende Triebe .

Leuchter is the founder of various ensembles, including the large-format LUX orchestra (including Ludwig Nuss , Jürgen Sturm , Karl Farrent , Marc Godfroid , Pinguin Moschner ) and the Heribert Leuchter Trio with Gero Körner ( organ ) and Stefan Kremer ( drums ). He is a member of the Aachen Art'n Schutz Orchestra . He worked with the (unrelated) musician Manfred Leuchter between 1999 and 2007. Together with the organist Lutz Felbick he forms the duo JATO ("Jazz at the Organ").

A focus of his compositional work is the interaction of specially composed, mostly jazz-related music with performing arts such as dance, drama or text presentations.

Under the title “New Songs for the Corrupted People”, a 13-part, cyclical work was created in 1991 in cooperation with the jazz editorial team of the WDR as a chamber jazz opera for two female voices and an expanded jazz orchestra. The libretto comes from Leuchter himself, the lyrics by Sylvie Schenk , Wendelin Rader and Dieter Hans. Helen Vita as the wise woman and the contralto Ruth Sandhoff as digit alternate as vocal protagonists and announce a longed-for better world in fictional spaces of the past and the distant future. Participants in the studio recordings with the LUX orchestra in the GMA studio of Pierre Piront, Belgium, in addition to Leuchter himself: Karl Farrent , Trpt; Matthias Erlewein , saxophone; Marc Godfroid , Ludwig Nuss and Ingo Luis, trombones; Heinz Hox, accordion; Jürgen L. Sturm and Jürgen Müller, guitar; Stefan Rademacher , bass; Roland Peil , percussion, and Herbert Bings, drums. The painter Eric Peters , who was friends with Leuchter, created a large-format oil painting with the same title in 1993. As a so-called multiple , a numbered special edition of the CD New Songs for the Depraved Man was published together with hand-signed original art prints of the oil painting by Peters in a limited edition of 250 pieces. The scenic premiere of the work was realized on May 18, 1994 at the Aachen Theater under the direction of Artistic Director Elmar Ottenthal .

In the text-music spectacle “Stadtgesichter” for voice, mixed jazz ensemble and jackhammer, Leuchter combined his compositions with poetry and lyrics by the authors Hermann-Josef Schüren, Norbert Stöbe, Franziska Kusch and Dirk Schulte. It premiered on June 20, 1997 in the Foyer Rouge of Theater K, Aachen, with Heribert Leuchter, saxophone, Anirahtak and Dirk Schulte, voice, Jürgen L. Sturm, guitar, and Lothar Galle-Merkel, bass.

In cooperation with Theater K, Aachen, the TanzTheaterMusikSzenario “Das Echo” was created in 1999, which was performed in the open air as part of the Aachen cultural summer in the rose garden of the city park; with Annette Schmidt, singing, recitation, direction, Simone el Mellouki and Peter Weiss, dance, ensemble of Theater K. and others.

For the world exhibition Expo 2000 in Hanover and the German Bishops' Conference , Leuchter wrote the text-music cycle "KlangWeltReligion", which he performed many times with the LUX orchestra and singer Kate Westbrook in the Christ Pavilion and which was recognized as "archaic and contemporary at the same time".

As part of the Rhenish Music Festival of the WDR, ARM created the Reich music scenario in 2002 in memoriam Alfred Richard Meyer alias Munkepunke for five actors (Theater K, Aachen), singer (Kate Westbrook) and LUX orchestra.

Leuchter and the actress and director Annette Schmidt are developing a homage to the poet Sarah Kirsch under the title Poet Buttons . With poems and stories by Sarah Kirsch, songs and original music, Schmidt and Leuchter will contest the world premiere on April 23, 2010 together with actress Anush Manukian and bassist / violist Uwe Böttcher at the Ludwig Forum for International Art in Aachen.

On the occasion of the 1200th anniversary of Charlemagne, Leuchter was commissioned by the Society for Contemporary Music Aachen to make a contribution to the artistic framework program at the Karlsruhe Festival 2014 in the city of Aachen. The oratorio The Long Breath - 1200 Years After Karl for mixed choir, Gregorian men's schola, solo singing, organ and saxophone will be premiered on May 14, 2014 in the Hohen Dom in Aachen and will be performed again in the Provost Church of St. Kornelius, Kornelimünster, on November 12, 2014 .

For the Aachen event Dom im Licht on November 3, 2017, Leuchter developed a comparable cast concept on the basis of earlier artistic ideas (oratorio Der Lange Atem etc.). An audience of 4,000 can experience this program live on the adjoining Katschhof.

Since 2017, Leuchter and the French-German novelist Sylvie Schenk , Hanser Verlag, have been presenting an independent format of text concerts with readings with specially composed live music. Text concerts for the novels Schnell dein Leben and Eine usual Familie take place in German-speaking countries and in France. B. in the program of the Badenweiler Literature Days 2019.

Leuchter has been running his own record label LUXaries Records since 1991 .

Trivia

Together with the ENT specialist Stefan Warmke and the music producer Jürgen Müller, Leuchter developed a method for treating tinnitus disorders. By listening to specially composed music with an individualized frequency note for the respective patient, it is claimed that this can successfully alleviate and combat their symptoms.

Prizes and awards

• 1988 Adolf Grimme Prize in gold for participating in the show with the mouse
• 1996 Bronze Compass for Music for the “Basel” contribution. International Tourism Exchange Berlin ITB, Cat. Tourist Commercial, Producer: AIXPRESS
• 1997 Golden Camera (Listen to) for participating in the show with the mouse, producer: WDR
• 2002 First winner of the Aachen Music Prize, Society for Contemporary Music Aachen e. V.
• 2002 gold record for participating in the sampler: "Bedtime stories and songs with the mouse" Producer: WDR, broadcast with the mouse; Universal
• 2004 The New York Festival, Bronze World Medal in the Children's Programs category for “Almost a prayer”, broadcast with the mouse

Discography (selection)

• 1993: New songs for the depraved man , with LUX orchestra and Helen Vita , LUXaries Rec.
• 1993: Piano & Saxophone , with Duo Heidtmann Leuchter, LUXaries Rec.
• 1997: by chance intention to work with Petra Welteroth , LUXaries Rec.
• 1998: I mean U , with Duo Heidtmann Leuchter, LUXaries Rec.
• 2000: Sparito , with Manfred Leuchter Band, LUXaries Rec.
• 2001: Arabesque , with Manfred Leuchter Band, LUXaries Rec.
• 2003: Nomade , with Manfred Leuchter Band, LUXaries Rec.
• 2004: live double CD space with Manfred Leuchter Band, LUXaries Rec.
• 2006: Reset , with Heribert Leuchter Trio, featuring Kate Westbrook , with Stefan Kremer, drums and Gero Körner , Hammond B3 organ, LUXaries Rec.
• 2007: Zina , with Manfred Leuchter Band, LUXaries Rec.
• 2009: close , with Petra Welteroth, LUXaries Rec.
• 2010: Sounds of Science , with Christoph Titz , Marotymusic.
• 2013: Windladen , JATO (Heribert Leuchter, saxophone; Lutz Felbick, organ), LUXaries Rec.
• 2014: Both Sides Now , with Samuel Schürmann and Swing.it, EP, LUXaries Rec.
• 2014: KO Götz for the 100th , with poems by KO Götz , LUXaries Rec.
• 2014: The Singer with Samuel Schürmann and Swing.it, LUXaries Rec.
• 2015: Art´n Schutz Orchester , with Anirahtak , Jürgen Sturm , Christoph Titz , u. a., LUXaries Rec.

Productions (selection)

• 1993 ff: readings with music, from 2017 “text concerts” with the novelist Sylvie Schenk
• 1994: Dramatic concert performance of the song cycle “New Songs for the Corrupted People” (premiere) at the Aachen Theater with guest soloist Kate Westbrook
• 1994 ff .: "Die Perlen", Modern Jazz Quartet
• 1995 ff: Chanson program with Petra Welteroth
• 1997: World premiere of “City Faces ”, text-music spectacle with Dirk Schulte , Anirahtak, Jürgen Sturm, Hermann-Josef Schüren, Norbert Stöbe
• 1999: World premiere of the TanzTheaterMusik scenario “Das Echo” with Theater K, Aachen
• 2000: Concert series "KlangWeltReligion" at the EXPO 2000 with LUX orchestra and Kate Westbrook as a commissioned work by the German Bishops' Conference ; with U. a. Albrecht Maurer , Stefan Rademacher, Arup sen Gupta
• 2002: World premiere "Reich through ARM", music scenario for 5 actors, singer and LUX orchestra, Rheinisches Musikfest WDR, since 2006 only run as a WDR music festival .
• 2002 ff: Concert tours with the Manfred Leuchter Band for the Goethe-Institut Internationes through India, Romania, Greece, Lithuania, Morocco
• 2004 ff: Heribert Leuchter Trio, concert activity
• 2010 ff: Poet buttons, stage scenario with words, games and music
• 2014: World premiere of “The Long Breath”, oratorio for mixed choir, Gregorian men's schola, solo voice, organ and saxophone, Aachen Cathedral , with Carmina Mundi , Domschola Aachen, Marco Fühner and Duo JATO with Lutz Felbick .

Fonts

• Jazz and current music in Aachen. In: Tonarten einer Stadt - a journey through time through the history of music in Aachen , ed. von Lutz Felbick, 292 pages, 304 illustrations, bibliography with 502 titles (= series Crous collection; 11), Aachen 2018. ISBN 978-3-9817499-4-6 , pp. 202-263.

Web links

• Works by and about Heribert Leuchter in the catalog of the German National Library
• Heribert Leuchter website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Aacheners were drawn to the churches. In: Aachener Nachrichten October 13, 2003
2. ↑ Grit Schorn: Aachen: "Dichterknöpf": Erdnah und poetisch at the same time In: aachener-zeitung.de , April 25, 2010, accessed on January 30, 2019.
3. ↑ The Aachener Zeitung, for example, presented extensive documentation of this event on November 4, 2017.
4. ↑ disappears /