Biography
Born in 1991 in Graz, Austria, Nina Reiter developed an interest for music at a young age. At the age of 13 Nina had her first jazz-voice lessons and joined her high school’s vocal ensemble, winning several competitions throughout Austria. In 2007 she was selected to be a part of the Marianne Mendt Nachwuchsförderung resulting in a performance at the Marianne Mendt Jazzfestival at the Festspielhaus St. Pölten.
At the age of 18 Nina moved to Vienna to study jazz voice with Ines Reiger at the MUK university and completed her bachelor degree with distinction in 2013. During her studies she started performing with several bands throughout Austria and Switzerland some of which are still active today, creating a basis for her musical career.
In August 2013 Nina moved to Switzerland, to study at the Hochschule für Musik – Luzern (HSLU) completing the Master of Arts in Performance Jazz Voice (2015) as well as the Master of Arts in Music Pedagogy (2017) with distinction. Parallel to her studies, Nina Reiter deepened her anatomical and physiological knowledge of the voice and trained as an Estill Master Trainer (EMT) from 2012 to 2017.
Her debut album “Night, sleep, death and the stars” was released in March 2016 on Unit Records. That same year, she formed the quartet Phraim with her former fellow students Peter Primus Frosch, and Marc Mezgolits. The band has released three albums on QFTF Records so far (2019 “/fɹeɪm/”, 2020 “Tides”, 2022 “Hysteria”) and tours throughout Europe. Nina Reiter teaches at the Music School Lucerne and the Kantonsschule Reussbühl, holds specific workshops on vocal technique and Estill Voice Training and is a guest lecturer for songwriting at the HSLU. In 2023 she received the “Selektive Förderung” prize (20.000 CHF) of the Kanton Luzern for her project “MetaLogue – The music of Mani Planzer”.
“Nina has a very unique way of using the voice as an instrument. Her orchestration skills are very impressive as are her compositions and her voice leads each piece with power and grace.” (Thana Alexa)
“Reiter’s overall vocal control and scatting skills add strength to the notion of making the voice a legitimate fronting instrument for a jazz quartet.” (Geannine Reid, All About Jazz)
“Nina Reiter’s leadership and defining vocal chops are very much displayed throughout the entire album. Her vocal range and technical finesse ceases to amaze.” (UK Vibe)