Biography

Cologne based cellist, singer and musical saw player Marei Seuthe earned several degrees from Cologne Music Academy and University of Cologne and continued her training as an actress and a soprano in workshops and master classes in Cologne and Munich. Her focus lies on classical chamber music, contemporary music, music- theatre and improvisation.

 

So she was founding member of the improvised chamber opera ensemble "Three Fishes Merrying  Callas" around composer Ulf Böttcher and played the first performance of his composition "Selbstgelb" in the Stadtgarten Cologne. Moreover, she – as performer and composer - created the musical part of two dance theater pieces of choreographer and dancer Gerlind O. Schweppe. One of them, "Motherland", was performed at the festival "Tanz hautnah" in 1998.

 

In collaboration with the ensemble "Foliafolie" she realized two programs for WDR Cologne which have been broadcasted in 2003 and 2005. Since then several remix concerts, remembering the first concert at WDR like musical archeologists, have followed, most recently at "Exploratorium Berlin" in 2015. Moreover, she developed together with the improvising cellists ensemble "Cello en Vogue" thematic concert programs on female composers such as Anna Amalia von Sachsen Weimar (2007) and Alma Mahler-Werfel (2010). Currently, she is working on a new female cellists performance project.

 

Marei Seuthe played in the award-winning theater-film-project "Wunschkonzert" directed at Schauspiel Köln by Katie Mitchell (London) and appears at international festivals such as Festival Météo, Mulhouse (F), blurred edges festival Hamburg, and Beethovenfest Bonn. She was invited as guest artist at "Humanoise Congress" in Wiesbaden (2002) and at "New Directions Cello Festival", Ithaca, N.Y. (USA) in 2012 and 2014.

 

Between 1992 and 2003, she was a member of the Extrachoir of Opera Bonn where she met famous singers such as Placido Domingo and Johan Botha and had the opportunity to observe directors such as Dietrich Hilsdorf and Günther Krämer as well as inspiring conductors such as Jeffrey Tate at work.

 

At present she works in several duos at the interface between composition and improvisation. So together with Paris based guitarist Phil Reptil she mixes medieval, experimental and rock sounds and developed with pianist and composer Dietmar Bonnen the program "satisfactory" out of compositions by Erik Satie and John Cage in new arrangements and improvisations. In her duo with pianist Sigrid Sachse she creates concert programs between classical and contemporary music as well as own compositions and improvisations.

 

In 2016 she performed together with saxophonist Roger Hanschel and video artist Peter Hölscher the multi-media project "VIN". Besides her music-video-projects with Peter Hölscher she has played his sound sculptures in several concerts which have been sponsored by the county of North Rhine Westfalia. In order to explore the possibilities of improvisation in bigger ensembles she joined three international improvising orchestras such as London Improvisers Orchestra, Wuppertaler Improvisationsorchester, and Insub Meta Orchestra Geneva. Moreover, she is a member of the improvising vocal ensemble "Millefleurs Basel" (CH).

 

Besides these ensembles she has improvised with musicians like Corinna Eikmeier, Dietmar Fuhr, Reinhard Gagel, Mitch Heinrich, Paul Hubweber, Christoph Irmer, Eberhard Kranemann, Christoph König, Christoph Schiller, Sue Schlotte, Angelika Sheridan, Achim Tang, Georg Wissel, Joachim Zöpf and many others.

 

Recently, she participated in the project "Erklärung einiger Dinge" by the Iraq composer Saad Thamir. This project has been invited to the festival "vielsaitig" in Füssen. Furthermore, she appears as a composer herself. So she played her composition "MonoDialog" within her solo-recital in 2015 playing cello and singing at the same time. In 2012 her piece "Lamento" was performed with "Les Saxosythes-werkstatt" at "Splash Festival" at "Zeche Zollverein" Essen.

 

Marei Seuthe teaches cello, orchestra, improvisation and music theatre at "Rheinische Musikschule Köln" and directs music theater pieces such as children’s opera "Olivers Abenteuer" by Markus Stockhausen and "Orpheus und Eurydike" by Chr. W. Gluck. Recently she was co-director and performer in a scenic concert program for children which she developed for "Philharmonie Köln" together with violinist Albrecht Maurer and singer Anna Lindblom.

 

Some of her projects in collaboration with Dietmar Bonnen have been produced as cd at the label "OBST" and the live screen of WDR concert "The Zapping Wanderer" at westpark.