Niki Reiser

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Niki Reiser (born May 12, 1958 in Reinach AG ) is a Swiss musician and film composer .

Niki Reiser is one of the most famous film composers in German-speaking countries. His debut as a film composer was the music for you me too (1986) by Dani Levy , for whose films he has written all the music to this day.

Life

Niki Reiser was born in 1958 in Aargau, Switzerland, as the son of a nurse and a pastor. Before he moved to Basel at the age of twelve , where he has lived since then, he spent four years in Schaffhausen . In addition to classical flute lessons , he invented his own melodies on the piano as a child. In his youth he played in various bands, composed the pieces and set theater performances to music at the school.

In the 1970s Reiser studied classical music with a focus on the flute in Basel. From 1980 to 1984 he studied jazz and classical music with a focus on film music at the Berklee School of Music in Boston . From 1984 to 1986 Reiser was partly back in Europe, especially in Switzerland, where he deepened his training in composition in Basel. He got to know Ennio Morricone and Jerry Goldsmith in workshops in the USA . During this time he composed his first pieces for several films in the USA. During this time he also toured as a jazz flutist with the People Ensemble , which he himself co-founded.

In 1986 Reiser moved back to Europe, where he met the director Dani Levy and composed the music for his first film Du mich . The film was a surprising success across Europe and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival . A friendship arose from this encounter with Levy, which is characterized, among other things, by the fact that Reiser composed all the music for Levy's films.

At this time Reiser joined the Klezmer band Kol Simcha as a flautist and composed several pieces. He toured the world twice with the band from 1991 to 1993 and from 1997 to 1999, performing at Carnegie Hall and at the Montreux Jazz Festival, among others .

Carrying out the professions of musician and film composer at the same time became impossible for Reiser when he became known for Levy's films and was already successful with other films. Reiser decided to only write film music. In addition to working with Levy, he also composed for Caroline Link , whom he met for the first time in 1996. He had his breakthrough with the music for their first film Beyond Silence . For her film Nirgendwo in Afrika Reiser studied African music for some time in Nairobi . In addition to cinema and TV films , he also wrote music for the theater. In 2009, Reiser's renewed collaboration with Link on the feature film In Winter One Year won the German Film Critics' Prize and another German Film Prize .

Today he has his music studio in the idea and sound studio , with which he works regularly, in Basel in Gundeldingerfeld.

Niki Reiser was one of the founding members of the German Film Academy in 2003 . In the first few years he was also a member of the board of the German Film Academy .

Filmography

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Susanna Petrin: Film music composer Niki Reiser: "The music gives the film a kick". In: Aargauer Zeigung / https://www.aargauerzeitung.ch . AZ Nordwestschweiz, August 19, 2016, accessed on July 5, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Niki Reiser. Film portal , accessed on January 13, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Reiser, Niki
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss musician and composer
DATE OF BIRTH May 12, 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH Reinach AG