Michael Reichenbach (born 1955) began his musical career as a guitar player in a local mandolin orchestra. He studied physics and at the same time continued his musical education with private lessons and seminars. For many years he was a member of the Badisches Zupforchester, one of the leading mandolin orchestras in Germany, where he learned to know the original works for mandolin orchestra by the important composers like Wölki, Schwaen, Ambrosius and others. He was educated as a conductor for mandolin orchestras and guitar ensembles and has conducted several mandolin orchestras.
He became more and more interested in the mandolin and its music and playing techniques. He studied the mandolin music of the old masters, but also the fascinating music of mandolin players in Bluegrass, Blues, Jazz, Choro or other musical styles. For several years he studied musicology at the university of Freiburg and worked as a teacher for guitar, mandolin and music theory, before he finally decided for computer science as his main profession. In his pieces Michael Reichenbach uses the technical possibilities of the mandolin to create interesting and full sounding music for the mandolin. This is typically achieved by chords, double stops or special picking techniques. |