Migration in Dialogue – Reiko Fueting
Courtesy of Reiko Fueting.
“With my music, I am to explore the psychological nature of memory through the use of musical quotations that are treated to the processes of assimilation, integration, disintegration, and segregation (inclusion vs. exclusion) while moving freely between clear borders and gradual transitions. Therefore, memory and quotation may function as a means to reflect upon contemporary artistic, cultural, social, and political phenomena.”
JWD: Tell us about your background, as both an artist and as a person.
RF: My background as a person: I was born in 1970 just outside East Berlin. I left home after eighth grade to attend a boarding school which was a high school with a special focus on music. The music education was comprehensive and primarily focused on choral activities. After a brief military and civil service, I attended college in Dresden, Germany, for four years. I continued my studies at Rice University in Houston, Texas, at the Manhattan School of Music (MSM) in New York City, and at Seoul National University in South Korea. I briefly returned to Germany before relocating to New York again in 2000. Since then, I have been teaching at MSM, and it is an absolute privilege to work with such talented, diverse, and interesting students. At the same time, I have been trying to be as active as a composer as possible. Recently, I started getting interested in organizing concerts and I now run my own small concert series called “New Sounds New Sounds New.”
My background as a musician: I started playing piano at the age of 5. My parents were not musicians, but music was thought of as a natural part of anyone’s middle-class education. I started writing music at the age of 9, entirely on my own. I didn’t receive feedback until eighth grade, but I had to wait for any professional and systematic compositional instruction until college. During my studies, I was also quite serious about playing piano. Here I focused primarily on contemporary music and vocal accompanying. In addition, I sang in many semi-professional choirs. I think I learned a lot about composition from these activities. Now, I am primarily interested in writing for the voice, specifically for vocal ensembles and choirs, with or without instruments. It is a very direct and intimate way of music making which has so much potential in terms of human expression.
JWD: You were born and raised behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany (DDR), a nation radically different from the one which you live in now. What drew you to the United States? Why did it seem like an appealing place to be an artist?
RF: It was entirely coincidental that I came to the US. I always wanted to go abroad, possibly a reaction to the fact that East Germans were only allowed to travel to a handful of Communist countries, and even that was quite difficult. I basically grew up right next to the Berlin Wall and never really expected to see it from the other side. However, witnessing how a political system – which presented itself as everlasting – imploded and disappeared so quickly and unexpectedly was an incredibly impactful experience, especially in retrospect. One had to completely reassess all conditions of life, and I was grateful to be of young age as this process of recontextualization is still ongoing.
It didn’t matter so much where I would go to study as long as I would leave Germany, and my first plans were to go to either Hungary or France. But I met a composition professor at Rice during a concert tour with my college choir in early 1994, and I decided to apply. The original intention was to stay for a year or two, which by now has turned into 30 and counting … I love living in the United States (specifically: New York) as I continuously discover new aspects of this country. There are many ambivalences that I find utterly fascinating. It is a unique cultural space that I have not experienced anywhere else.
JWD: You have traveled extensively and lived in many different places throughout your life. How has this affected your practice as a composer?
RF: I started to question ideas such as “identity” and “cultural heritage” once I left home. Not that I was not aware of these ideas before, but once I left, I started understanding these ideas quite differently. I became aware of German culture and German history very differently, and I realized its complexities and contradictions in a much deeper and more personal and therefore meaningful way. Now, I don’t simply accept these ideas, I struggle with them, I deal with them, I confront them as much as they confront me. It is this tension which affects my practice as a composer.
JWD: Immigration is a relevant and, at times, divisive issue in the American political sphere. This is a country that frequently touts its history as what President Kennedy called “A Nation of Immigrants,” yet xenophobic and anti-immigrant rhetoric seems particularly common nowadays. What is something that you wish more native-born Americans knew about immigration?
RF: This is more a wish related to any citizens living in relative wealth: It’s important to experience not having access to things we take for granted. I find the experience of absence essential.
And to paraphrase the Czech philosopher Vilém Flusser: the identity of a culture can be found in its immigrants, as their mere presence will affect this culture to create awareness and assess its conditions.
JWD: Is there any advice, general or specific, that you would give to immigrant artists looking to live and create in the United States?
RF: To an extent this is true for all countries, but still: I have experienced that there is not one United States, but that there are many, which coexist, overlap, contradict each other, etc. Also, each country has more institutionalized and visible art scenes, as well as less visible ones. The longer I stay here, the more I find the less visible art scenes not only more fascinating, but also more relevant.
JWD: If given the opportunity, what changes would you make to the American visa program? Moreover, what would you tell American policymakers about the visa process?
RF: Artists – as well as any other idealists – cannot be assessed based on economic and commercial terms. Artists do not contribute to society in the same way as other disciplines: artists reflect, and in order to reflect, one has to be outside to some degree. And to paraphrase Helmut Lachenmann: art is not a luxury; art is a necessity.
JWD: I mean the following in both an artistic and personal sense: Where do you feel at home?
RF: I really feel at home when I am in-between spaces!
JWD: Thanks very much Reiko.
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Reiko Fueting, born in 1970 in Königs Wusterhausen of the German Democratic Republic, studied composition and piano in Dresden, Houston, New York, and Seoul (with Jörg Herchet, Nils Vigeland, and Winfried Apel, among others). He teaches composition and music theory at Manhattan School of Music in New York. As a composer, he has appeared in numerous countries in Europe, the Americas, and Asia.
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