Victoria composer Christopher Reiche never sits still. When I made contact with him on Monday, he was up-Island teaching piano. Shortly after our interview Tuesday morning, he was off to a business meeting, followed by more lessons.
Reiche, 30, said the remainder of his week would follow a similar pattern, with bits of time in his schedule to accommodate writing music for himself. “It does feel like I’m always on the go,” he said.
Between teaching piano lessons — which he does in Victoria through Larsen Music and in Cobble Hill through Brentwood College and Minstrels Conservatory — and his job as the new music co-ordinator for Open Space, Reiche is literally living out his dream in real time.
“I do tend to always have a plan. A lot of the really big things in my life have been goals that I have set for myself.”
Reiche grew up in Pembroke, Ont., located on the shores of the Ottawa River. After graduating high school in 2002, he enrolled in classes at Waterloo’s Sir Wilfrid Laurier University, graduating in 2006 with a degree in music.
University was an interesting time for Reiche, and one of great eye-opening experiences. Though he was a lifelong music fan, he often felt removed from the larger musical world due to his quiet Pembroke environs. He discovered first-hand just how little experience he had a few weeks into his studies at Wilfrid Laurier.
“One of the earliest concerts I remember going to in university, when I first got there, was Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. I remember having a really difficult time with it, and all this anxiety. But it was because I didn’t have that type of formal concert, classical-music experience.”
He was up to speed soon enough. After putting himself through school via his job as a lifeguard (which he supplemented by giving private swimming lessons), he decided to continue his career in music — this time out west. “After I graduated, I spent the summer working at a summer camp,” he said. “Then I packed all of my belongings into my Dodge Caravan and drove across the country.”
He landed at the University of Victoria in 2006 with the specific intent of studying with Christopher Butterfield. Reiche eventually received his master’s degree in composition from UVic, which he has put to good use in the years since: In 2009, the lauded Aventa Ensemble premièred his work Ruins Runes.
Reiche continues to explore, both on his own and with others. He performs with the Victoria Phonographer’s Union and records and performs with his friends and bandmates in the Toronto group, the Glass Tables. He is currently writing a 10-minute, one-person opera that is to be performed this summer in Halifax, and will appear at Open Space on June 21 for a rare solo performance of Erik Satie’s Vexations, an epic piece which Reiche first performed in 2009.
Like many of his contemporaries, he has a desire to one day teach music in university. Having dabbled in that area already (Reiche was a sessional lecturer at UVic from 2009 to 2012), he may delay that career course until a later date.
“To be completely honest with you, the dilemma is the doctorate. In order to get [university] jobs, they like to see people with doctorates. And I’m not sure I want to do that much school right now. I want to live life and experience life outside of the institution. School is an awfully safe place.”
Where were you born and raised?
I was born in Ottawa and grew up in Pembroke, Ont. I lived in Pembroke until I finished high school in 2002.
At which point did you know the city was not for you in the long term?
When I was 16, I spent a summer working for the Ministry of Natural Resources in Pembroke, and they sent me to northern Ontario to work in a provincial park. That was the first really extended period I had spent away from home, and I realized then that I was done with Pembroke.
When did you arrive in Victoria?
Right after graduating, in 2006.
What brought you here?
I came here to do my master’s degree in music and composition at UVic. I came specifically to study with Christopher Butterfield.
What is your favourite thing about Victoria?
Coming from Ontario, I’m a really big fan of the weather. I like all the green space here. I can’t say enough great things about the city.
What is your greatest accomplishment as a person?
Still finding the time to learn something new every day. I took up knitting recently because the learning experience is so wonderful.
And as a professional?
Something I’m really proud of is making the lifestyle of a musician work. It is tough. I’m doing work that involves me, keeps me in the music community, and I’m still writing music, composing, creating and practising my art, and [I’m] able to pay my rent.
First album you purchased?
Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill.
Favourite album?
Right now, my favourite classical album is Jürg Frey, Quatuor Bozzini, String Quartets. But the album I have been rocking out to is Some Nights [by fun.].
First concert you attended?
I didn’t go to a lot of concerts before getting to university. There just wasn’t the opportunity. But I remember the first concert I went to that had an orchestra was Handel’s Messiah.
Favourite concert you attended?
I feel bad saying one that I organized at Open Space, but I really enjoyed Phillip Thomas’s piano concert, Canada Connections on April 12. I was floored when I heard it.
If you had one motto, or rule to abide by, what would it be?
The one I have been drawing from recently is attributed to Pablo Picasso, and I know I’m paraphrasing it because when I first heard it, it was paraphrased as well. But it goes, “In order for inspiration to find you, it has to find you working.”
Christopher Reiche will give a rare solo performance of Erik Satie’s Vexations — which can often take upward of 24 hours to perform — at Open Space on June 21. For more information, go to openspace.ca.
