Markus Reuter (born Lippstadt, Germany, 1972) is a German multi-disciplinary musician, composer, record producer and instrument designer.
Reuter's work as recording artist, solo performer and collaborator spans (and frequently fuses) electrophonic loop music, contemporary classical music, progressive and art rock, industrial music, world jazz, jazz fusion, pop songs and pure improvisation. Over the course of a two-decade career, he has been a member of multiple bands, ensembles and projects (including centrozoon, Stick Men, Tuner, The Crimson ProjeKct and Europa String Choir) as well as a solo artist. Since 2011 Reuter has begun to establish himself as a contemporary classical composer, starting with the performance and recording of his large-scale orchestral piece Todmorden 513.
A specialist in touch guitar playing, Reuter became known as a leading player of the Warr Guitar and Chapman Stick during the 1990s and 2000s before developing, adopting and marketing his own U8 and U10 Touch Guitar instruments. In collaboration with former King Crimson member Trey Gunn, he runs the Touch Guitar Circle, a teaching and support network for touch guitar players.
As well as further collaborations with artists including Tim Bowness, Lee Fletcher, Ian Boddy and Robert Rich, Reuter has produced records by numerous musicians and released several solo recordings as both performer and composer. He is also part of an artist-owned production consortium which encompasses Iapetus Media, Unsung Productions and Unsung Records.
Musical style
Most of Reuter's performance work to date has evolved from exploring electric touch-style instruments and sound processing. Between 1993 and 1996, he predominantly played Chapman Stick, switching to 8-string Warr Guitar circa 1997. In 2008, he began using his own self-designed range of 8- and 10-string Touch Guitars. A technically skilled player, Reuter performs using a variety of approaches from unprocessed sound and standard technique through to extreme processed textural sounds and drones.
As a performer, Reuter is best known for his work as an art rock musician (partly due to his involvement with multiple projects related to King Crimson and his work in experimental ambient music) but as a keen and flexible collaborator by inclination, his work with other projects has also involved elements of chamber music, jazz, folk and various pop styles depending on context. Since 2011, he has been actively developing a parallel and linked career as a contemporary classical composer.
In terms of composition, Reuter has shown a particular interest in process music, using rules-based algorithmic and serial compositional techniques. He has also worked with generative music, which informs both the harmonic designs of some of his classical compositions (such as Todmorden 513) and his work with the band Tuner and follows various improvisational approaches. Recently, he has been referring to his overall musical approach as "Modus Novus".
Reuter views his ongoing work as an opportunity to educate himself through broad experience and experiment. He has cited the challenges brought to him by long-term musical partners (such as Bernhard Wöstheinrich) as being a particular inspiration.
Biography and career as musician
Initial studies, Guitar Craft and university (1975-1996)
Markus Reuter began training as a musician in 1975 at the age of three. Initially he studied as a pianist (tutored by Ulrich Pollmann) and later took up classical guitar and mandolin. During his childhood and early teens (up until the age of 16), he performed in concert both as a solo musician and as a member of ensembles and orchestras.
With Pollmann's aid and encouragement Reuter began composing in 1985 at the age of 11 or 12. He was inspired by a variety of influences - classic 1960s and 1970s pop music (The Beatles in particular), classical music (Bach and Messiaen), progressive rock (Mike Oldfield, David Torn, Robert Fripp and King Crimson) and contemporary crossover composers such as David Bedford. During his teens, Reuter studied music history, theory, and analysis with Karlheinz Straetmanns, a composer in the lineage of Harald Genzmer and Paul Hindemith.
In 1991, at the age of 18, Reuter began attending courses in Robert Fripp's Guitar Craft. Tutored by Tony Geballe (and by Fripp himself), he continued to study Guitar Craft until 1998, combining intensive music courses with explorations of the philosophy of George Gurdjieff and J.G. Bennett. Gurdjieff's work - in particular, the Sacred Dances - would have a profound effect on Reuter's own subsequent work.