Mike Herting

As pianist, composer and producer Mike Herting is active in Germany since the beginning of the eighties. He was the founder of the ambitious jazz rock group Headband and was part of the Cologne Trio Härte 10, an experimental funk-rock formation. The cooperation with the American alto saxophone player Charlie Mariano begins in 1982 und continues until today. The nineties see the group “International Commission for the Prevention of musical Bordercontrol“ with musicians like Manfred Schoof, Paul Shigihara, Dave King, Ramesh Shotham. In this time Mike also is very successfully producing music. Besides his activities as a live musician Mike Herting also writes music for films and radio as well as for theatre. Mike Herting is working as guest conductor, composer and arranger with the WDR-Bigband since 1998. Guest soloists of the celebrated crossover project between Jazzrock, big band tradition and world music in February 1999 were the Tunisian singer and Oud player Dhafer Youssef and Charlie Mariano. The musical large-scale project “Sketches of Bangalore“ which combined musicians from India and the USA with the WDR-Bigband formed a highlight with concerts in the Philharmonie Cologne as well as at the World Symphony Leverkusen Jazzfestival in 2000. Continuous activities in crossover-projects lead to Mike being curator of Ruhrtriennale Festival in 2007. The same year sees another project with the Karnataka College of Percussion, U. Srinivas and the WDR-Bigband. In 2009 Mike is guest conductor with the Bundesjazzorchestra and is busily writing music for the collaboration with KCP. 2013 sees a tour through Westafrica with BuJazzO and major african musicians. 2015 "Sai Symphony" is performed in India, an intercultural composition for orchestra, choir and soloists. Composer, arranger, pianist, conductor, founder of GlobalMusicOrchestra. In Jazz and between the cultures in India, Africa and Europe.