Endorsements:

Vita

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For Rebecca Trescher, the compositional process is a constant balancing act, an ongoing dialogue between reason and emotion. Nevertheless, her emotional side consistently prevails over whatever obstacles logic, principles, rules, and formal conventions might place in her path. That’s perhaps why her music sounds the way it does: unconventional but always convincing – heartfelt, in other words. It’s no wonder that the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung once asked, “Can we simply say that no one has ever composed for jazz the way Rebecca Trescher does?”

Yes, we can. Her influences – Bob Brookmeyer, Björk, Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Radiohead, Wayne Shorter, Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky, Questlove – pass through Trescher’s unique musical filter and are mixed with extra-musical impressions that the clarinetist and composer (at home both in Nuremberg and Berlin) has gathered during academic fellowships and from observations of nature and everyday life. Rebecca Trescher’s music is a kaleidoscope in which musical lines, colors, forms, textures, styles, perspectives, and structures are constantly in a state of fluid transformation, making it impossible to predict what the next moment will bring. 

With her Quartet and Tentet, Rebecca Trescher knows how to maintain a balance between sonority and transparency, between the grounded and the ethereal, between tradition and modernity. Her compositions for her two regular ensembles always trigger a flood of images in the listener’s mind. 

Born in Tübingen in 1986, Trescher sensed at a young age that music would define her life and that the clarinet would be her instrument. She acquired the tools for what she does today at the Nuremberg University of Music, where she studied jazz clarinet and composition, and at the Munich University of Music and Theatre, where she earned a master’s degree in composition. Even as a student, it was clear that she was someone looking for paths other than the obvious ones. 

She soon put her sense of sound color and voice leading, her flair for dramaturgy and musical storytelling, and her penchant for unusually orchestrated large instrumental groups to good use in her first large ensemble – out of which her award-winning Tentet evolved. 

Rebecca Trescher does not limit herself to the demanding activities of her Quartet and Tentet. She also writes commissioned compositions, for example the concert music for the silent film epic, “October.” Since 2017, she has been Artist in Residence at the Tafelhalle in Nuremberg, where she curates an interdisciplinary series featuring guests from the fields of dance, literature, video performance, and music. In addition, Rebecca is involved in various juries and committees for young jazz musicians, a cause that is particularly close to her heart. For this reason, she also shares her knowledge and experience as a lecturer at the Nuremberg University of Music and the Jazz Institute Berlin. 

Her quest for more autonomy has now led to the founding of Treasure Records. The label allows the composer to more fully realize her musical visions and is also intended to create a network and forum for like-minded musicians. Rebecca Trescher’s work to date has earned her numerous grants and awards, including the Bayerischer Kunstförderpreis in 2017. In 2019, she was Artist in Residence at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris. In 2022, Down Beat magazine’s survey of international critics named her a “Rising Star” on clarinet. In the same year, she received the German Jazz Prize for her four-part “Paris Cycle/The Spirit of the Streets,” which was inspired by her walks through the city of Paris. The jury thus honored a musician able to engage with environments both familiar and unfamiliar with an open mind, sharpened senses, curiosity, and empathy, and who knows how to translate her impressions into music.