Reiko Füting is a German educator, pianist, and one of the top avant-garde composers in contemporary music. His compositions often contain the aesthetics of early music, and thematic material based on social commentary and the exploration of the psychology of memory. He was born in Königs Wusterhausen, Germany in 1970 and he began his music education at the Wernigerode State High School for Music. From 1990 to 1994 he attended the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden, where he studied composition with Jörg Herchet and piano with Winfried Apel. This was followed by graduate studies in music theory and composition at Rice University, and in 1999 he completed his DMA at the Manhattan School of Music under the guidance of Nils Vigeland. It was around this time when he composed his earliest published works, such as Wenn nichts mehr da wäre, wohin man zu gehen hätte, ist das Wiederkommen von Heil, Stimmen, nachtdurchwachsen, and Komposition nach Georg Trakl. He also studied composition with Sukhi Kang at the Seoul National University and taught vocal accompaniment at the Rostock University of Music and Drama before becoming a professor of music theory at the Manhattan School of music in 2000. Five years later, he was named chair of the music theory department, and he also joined the composition faculty. Several of his works were premiered around this time, including Blows - Blows Around, Re-fraction: Shadows, and Leaving Without/Palimpsest. His music was featured on the albums Names Erased from 2015 and Distant Song from 2018, and on other recordings by artists such as loadbang, Oerknal Ensemble, and Olivia De Prato. Füting‘s responsibilities at Manhattan School of Music expanded in 2020 when he was appointed chair of the music composition department, and he currently serves as Dean of Academic Core and Head of Composition. His opera Mechthild was premiered in 2022 for the reopening of the Magdeburg Concert Hall, and the work was released in 2023 on New Focus Recordings. Füting served as composer in residence at the Gesellschafthaus Magdeburg from 2023 through 2024, and his music also appeared on the album brokenSong, which featured Jing Yang and Vocalconsort labia vocalia conducted by the composer. ~ RJ Lambert, Rovi