FOr Presenters

About Susanne: A brief Bio

“I love to bring joy, beauty, and depth through my performances - be it on a concert stage, at an intimate house concert, in a club setting, for a wedding, private party, business gathering... Music is all about connection: To your fellow musicians, to your audience, to yourself, to the world. I'd love to share my tunes with you.” - Susanne Ortner

New Orleans based German clarinetist, saxophonist and composer Susanne Ortner is equally conversant in jazz, classical music, and various ethnic musics. The German Newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine states that she is “a musician par excellence, capable of moving you deeply“. Susanne is a graduate of the University of Augsburg.

Susanne was the founder of the German Quartet “Sing Your Soul“, and collaborates and tours internationally with jazz musicians, mostly in the intimate duo- and trio-format, such as her own trio with James Singleton on bass, and Nahum Zdybel on guitar, and with the Ortner/Limberger Duo with Belgian Gypsy Jazz icon Tcha Limberger on guitar, violin, and voice.

In addition she has performed in concert with numerous outstanding musicians such as pianist Tom Roberts, accordionist/pianist Alan Bern, First Concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonics Noah Bendix-Balgley, multi-instrumentalist Vince Giordano, drummer Roger Humphries, accordionist Vladimir Mollov, accordionist and composer Guy Klusevec, cellist and composer Catherine Bent, and others. Susanne moved to the US in 2006, first to Pittsburgh/Pennsylvania.

Since her recent move to New Orleans in 2017, Susanne has established herself within the jazz community, and has performed – mostly in duos and trios – with New Orleans greats such as Tom McDermott – piano, Don Vappie – banjo/guitar, James Singleton – bass, Nahum Zdybel – guitar, Kris Tokarski – piano, Helen Gillet – cello, and many others.

Her most recent musical infatuation is with Brazilian choro, the grandfather of Bossa Nova, an exuberant and highly virtuosic genre of early Brazilian music.

Susanne has arranged and composed music for many theatrical productions including “Mazel” by Amy Hartman, ,“Our Class” by Tadeusz Slobozianek, and "Die Weihnachtsgeschichte" by The Augsburger Puppenkiste . She appears on several CDs and has recorded the following CDs as leader or co-leader: “Last Stop Sehnsucht” (Susanne Ortner Trio, 2020), “Die Musik aus der Weihnachtsgeschichte" (Susanne Ortner quartet), “A Trip To America” and “Hot World Chamber Music” (Ortner-Roberts Duo), and “Khosn Kale Mazl-Tov” (Sing Your Soul). She has done book and film projects.

Susanne is the subject of the book “Living the Dream” – Für die Musik nach Amerika” (Wissner Verlag Augsburg, 2011), written by German Television journalist Helge Fuhst.

About Susanne: An In-depth Bio

“Susanne Ortner … enchanted with her almost unbelievable witchcraft on the clarinet.”
- Aichacher Nachrichten

“Susanne Ortner … seems to be capable of everything … . Warm, soft tones if necessary, rapid, speedy passages and in addition to this the challenging embellishments, … all at breakneck speed and with an almost unbelievable ease.“
- Donau Zeitung.

New Orleans based German clarinetist and saxophonist, and composer, Susanne Ortner is equally conversant in jazz, classical music, and various ethnic musics.

The German Newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine states that she is “a musician par excellence, capable of moving you deeply“.

Susanne is a graduate of the University of Augsburg. She previously taught German literature, language, and music.

Her desire to find the similar in the different has lead to the exploration of a myriad of musical traditions, as well as to collaborations and international concert tours with numerous outstanding musicians – mostly in the intimate duo or trio format - such as the Susanne Ortner Trio with Nahum Zdybel on guitar, and James Singleton on bass, with pianist Tom McDermott, Belgium Gypsy icon Tcha Limberger, with accordionist/pianist Alan Bern, with accordionist Michael Ward-Bergeman, Noah Bendix-Balgley, First Concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic, multi-instrumentalist Vince Giordano, pianist Tom Roberts, and with her German quartet Sing Your Soul.

She is the subject of the book “Living the Dream” – Für die Musik nach Amerika” (Wissner Verlag Augsburg, 2011), written by German Television journalist Helge Fuhst.

Following an invitation by the University of Pittsburgh in 2006 she left her tenured teaching job at a German Realschule behind to move to the US to accompany Pittsburgh area Holocaust survivors at schools and Universities creating the musical framework for their stories. Besides master classes and lectures at the University of Pittsburgh, and Duquesne University, she instructed klezmer bands within the Jewish community, and at various colleges in and around Pittsburgh. She held an adjunct teaching position for clarinet at Washington & Jefferson College. Susanne was the co-founder of the Three Rivers Klezmer Festival. During her years in Pittsburgh she formed a duo with pianist Tom Roberts, performing and recording “Hot World Chamber Music,” a blend of Eastern European Jewish music, early jazz and swing, Venezuelan waltzes and more.

Enchanted by the many clarinet voices in early jazz such as Johnny Dodds, Omer Simeon, Edmond Hall, Jimmie Noone, and Sidney Bechet, and with the desire for a community of like-minded musicians to learn from and collaborate with, Susanne moved to New Orleans in 2017. Since then she established herself within the rich musical fabric of this so vibrant city – “the cradle of jazz” – performing mostly in duo and trio ensembles all around town.

Her most recent musical infatuation is with choro, the exuberant genre of early Brazilian music, the Grandfather of Bossa Nova. She started the facebook group “Choro Challenge” in June of 2019 dedicating herself to learning one choro by heart per week, and creating a vibrant international community who joins in her efforts, and benefits from her inspiration and teaching skills.

Susanne has arranged and composed music for many theatrical productions including “Mazel” by Amy Hartman, ,“Our Class” by Tadeusz Slobozianek, and "Die Weihnachtsgeschichte" by The Augsburger Puppenkiste. She recorded several CDs, mostly as leader or co-leader, including “Last Stop Sehnsucht” (Susanne Ortner Trio), "Die Musik aus der Weihnachtsgeschichte" (Susanne Ortner quartet), “A Trip To America,” “Hot World Chamber Music” (Ortner-Roberts Duo), “A Tribute to Teenie Harris” (Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild), “Khosn Kale Mazl-Tov” (Sing Your Soul), and has done book and film projects.

Promotional Photos

About Susanne Ortner Trio

Susanne Ortner Trio:
Last Stop Sehnsucht

Acoustifying Music from Disparate Traditions

Susanne Ortner – clarinets/saxophones
Nahum Zdybel – guitar
James Singleton – bass

Praise for the CD:

“So much traditional jazz aspires to perfect solos and recreation from 1932; this is much more exciting stuff.”
- Tom McDermott, Offbeat Magazine, February 27, 2020 (Full review)

“Deeply masterful … original, sometimes breathtaking arrangements ... This is a wonderful, creative and quite beautiful album.”
- Sammy Stein, Something Else Magazine, February 2020 (Full review)

“Thrillingly eclectic.... highly recommended. … top-drawer musicianship, respect for tradition, and unyielding affection for the roots and stylistic versatility of jazz. … Ortner and her bandmates perform with as much precision as passion.”
Jazz Corner, February 2020 (Full review)

“... The real thing, a serious musical expression made drawing on several related early 20th century idioms. … Ortner, Zdybel, and Singleton aren’t just playing they are building fires together … A warm inspirational shiver of an album.”
- Joe Bebco, The Syncopated Times, March 2020 (Full review)

Driven by an “addictive yearning” for deep connection this stellar trio, led by German born reed player Susanne Ortner, explores often overlooked 20th century repertoire from disparate traditions in an inside/outside kind of way – and with great sensitivity, communication, and fire. Nasty-silky-good.

New Orleans based German clarinetist, saxophonist, and composer Susanne Ortner is equally conversant in jazz, classical music, and various ethnic musics. The German Newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine states that she is “a musician par excellence, capable of moving you deeply“.

Her desire to find the similar in the different has lead to the exploration of a myriad of musical traditions, as well as to collaborations and international concert tours with numerous outstanding musicians – mostly in the intimate duo or trio format - such as the Susanne Ortner Trio with Nahum Zdybel (guitar), and James Singleton (bass), Belgium Gypsy icon Tcha Limberger, accordionist/pianist Alan Bern, 1. Concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonics Noah Bendix-Balgley, multi-instrumentalist Vince Giordano, pianist Tom Roberts, and many others.

She is the subject of the book “Living the Dream” – Für die Musik nach Amerika” (Wissner Verlag Augsburg, 2011), written by German Television journalist Helge Fuhst.

Nahum Thelonious Zdybel is a New Orleans-based guitarist, improviser and composer restlessly shifting roles between innovative explorer of improvised musics, creative indie rock sideman, and ardent revivalist of early jazz styles and repertoire. Attracted to musical settings that are intimate and sincere, Nahum deploys a playful, hyper-sensitive approach to re-imagine material from disparate musical traditions as baffling combustions of spontaneity and subtle cleverness. Correspondingly at home amongst jazz tunes, free improvisations, original works, and early 20th-century american music, Nahum is an inventive improviser who regards with equal fondness and irreverence his relationship with early jazz, hardcore punk, and unstructured improvisation.

Composer/Double bassist/bandleader James Singleton has been ubiquitous on the New Orleans music scene for more than 40 years. He has performed, toured, and recorded in many styles from the earliest New Orleans traditions to R'n'B, Blues, all imagined types of jazz to punk rock and the avant-garde. The New Orleans traditions he most adheres to are invention, making it new, and making it deep.