Maria I. J. Reich
shaping rich worlds of sound
Photo: ©photo: https://stage-photographer.com
Maria I. J. Reich
shaping rich worlds of sound
She is "embracing all sounds, dirty and rough, touching and lyrical, melodic and percussive. Reich sees the beauty in all of them, as well as their insconspicuous and imperceptible interdependence that weaves between all things."
- Eyal Hareuveni, Salt Peanuts
INTERDEPENDENZEN - Maria Reich
Relative Pitch Records (New York)
"I often got the feeling that Maria Reich was tapping into ancient ritualistic traditions which are long buried in our collected memories. A most impressive debut"
- Bruce Lee Galanter, DMG
ABOUT
Photos: ©photo: https://stage-photographer.com and Dovile Sermokas
Maria Reich is a violinist, composer and writer based in Berlin, Germany.
In all of her work, she is guided by an extraordinary sense of clarity, curiosity, and depth. What sets Maria Reich apart is not just excellence – it is the way she connects spaces: musical, intellectual, human. Having lived and worked in France, Peru, Mexico, Italy, and Germany, she speaks five languages and moves fluidly between artistic worlds. Her work spans from string quartets to experimental formats, from poetic writing to interdisciplinary collaborations – always exploring the in-between, the intuitive, the transformative.
"She's not just a highly talented violinist, but also - as some of you surely know - a super-smart mind. I don't know many people whose knowledge about the essence of improvisation is so wide-ranging and close to life like Maria's."
- Louis Rastig , A L`ARME! Festival
As a violinist and violist, she participates in various classical, jazz, improvisation projects such as Trickster Orchestra, Cymin Samawatie Sextett, her own band and string quartet and is often times featured as guest musician in bands led by Julia Kadel, Julia Hülsmann, Julius Windisch, Susanne Paul and others. As an educator she regulalrly gives workshops for institutions such as The Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, Pierre-Boulez Saal Berlin, HfM Dresden, Jovem Orquestra Afegã - JOA (Braga, PT) and Arpegio Perú (Trujillo, Peru).
Her compositions have been commissioned by festivals and ensembles alike such as Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, Ensemble Reflektor, PODIUM Festival Esslingen and Goethe-Institut. She has received numerous scholarships by the Berlin Senate, Studenstiftung des deutschen Volkes and Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now.
In a time that often calls for quick answers, her artistic voice offers something quietly powerful: an invitation to listen more deeply, to think more widely, and to embrace complexity as a source of creation.
She is currently developing CARE WORKS – an audacious and deeply personal exploration of care, sound and human connection within our society.
DISCOGRAPHY & BOOKS (Excerpt)
Maria Reich has released several albums as a leader and in collective groups and was invited to numerous collaborations (with Petter Eldh, Nick Dunston, Fabia Mantwill, Julius Windisch, Mark Pringle etc.).
Her chamber music works are published by Verlag Neue Musik Berlin and her solo debut album INTERDEPENDENZEN was released in 2024 by Relative Pitch Records in Brooklyn, New York.
Maria's work on improvisation in contemporary classical music has appeared in major academic journals like Routledge and transcript. She has self-published her poetry under the title "Kompost".
Her music as been broadcasted by RBB, WDR, SWR, BR and beyond.
"Maria Reich takes it to her bridge"
- Peter Margasak' Full Article in Nowhere Street
"In howling waves, with tingling, pecking pizzicato, rough, shimmering, creaky scarping - fantastic technique and a bittersweet attention to thorny reality conveyed by Rilke and Gregory Bateson."
- Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy
"It is fascinating to feel how much Maria Reich feels and thinks through her instrument. The composed and improvised passages form a strong unity."
- Sebastian Studnitzky, XJAZZ Festival
"The melody and the artists's breathing blended with the surroundings are the components of almost every story. If post-folk, then raw, deformed by the smell of civilization, if dance, then feisty, energetic temperamental."
- Trybuna Muzyki Spontanicznej
LIVE
14.02.25
Reich / Baumgärtner / Pringle
im Konzerthaus Berlin
31.03.-04.04.25
Trickster Orchestra
bei den Dresdner Tage der zeitgenössischen Musik, Hellerau
11.-13.04..25
Workshop "Sprache & Musik"
Konzeption und Leitung beim Landesmusikrat Berlin
16.04.25
Trickster Orchestra Encounter
im Radialsystem Berlin
25.04.25
FLINTA* Workshop
Konzeption und Leitung am Jazzinstitut Berlin (UdK Berlin)
29.04.-03.05.25
Trickster Orchestra
bei den Wittener Tagen für neue Kammermusik
01.06.25
ritual Festival-Konzert mit Luise Volkmann, Thea Soti, Anil Eraslan, Philip Zoubek, Maria Reich
im Stadtgarten Köln
27.-29.06.25
Workshop "Sprache & Musik"
Konzeption und Leitung beim Landesmusikrat Berlin
18.07.25
Cymin Samawatie Trio
in der Kulturpraline Tornow
29.08.25
Susanne Paul's MOVE String Quartet
in der Kulturpraline Tornow
30.08.25
Susanne Paul's MOVE String Quartet
in Berlin-Grünau, Friedenskirche
08.& 09.09.25
Studioaufnahmen für CARE WORKS
@Studio P4 Berlin
16.09.25
Maria Reich Solo Improvisation
@Solo Impro Festival Berlin
17.09.25
Maria Reich Solo
@Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Berlin
24.09.25
Megan Jowett, James Banner & Maria Reich
@Hošek Contemporary Berlin
26.09.25
Maria Reich im Gespräch mit der Musikjournalistin Aida Baghernejad
@"Universal Consciousness", Konferenz im Rahmen des 19. Darmstädter Jazzforums
06. & 07.10.25
Studioaufnahmen für CARE WORKS
@Studio P4 Berlin
25.10.25
Julia Kadel & Maria Reich
@Kunststation Kleinsassen
18.11.25
Trickster Orchestra Preisträgerkonzert
Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge-Preis für unkonventionelle Kunstvermittlung 2025
@Berlinische Galerie
20.11.25
Trickster Orchestra
@Stadttheater Fürth
Photos: ©photo: https://stage-photographer.com and Dovile Sermokas
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REFERENCES (excerpt)
Played at
Düsseldorf Festival, À L’ARME Festival, Cologne Jazz Week, UdK Berlin, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Gropius Bau Berlin, Berliner Festspiele, Jazzfest Berlin, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Jazzdor, Beethovenfest Bonn, XJazz Berlin, Goethe-Institut Mexiko, 1:1 Concerts, Schlossfestspiele Potsdam, Trickster Orchestra, TONALI, Rotes Rathaus Berlin, JazzBaltica, Deutsche Welle, RBB Kultur, DLF, Bayrischer Rundfunk
Workshops & Teaching for
Bundesjugendorchester, Landesmusikrat Berlin, Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, Pierre-Boulez Saal Berlin, SEYO Griechendland, HfM Dresden, Jazz-Institut Berlin, Beethovenfest Bonn, Jovem Orquestra Afegã - JOA (Braga, PT), Arpegio Perú (Trujillo, Peru)
in the Studio for
SONY, arte, Netflix, Universal Music, Peter Fox, zdf, and many wonderful colleagues...
Own Works published at
Verlag Neue Musik, transcript, Routledge, Relative Pitch Records, stssts Records
Commissioned Works for
Ensemble Reflektor, PODIUM Festival Esslingen, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, Neuköllner Oper, Stegreif Orchester, audible