Like his duo-partner Howard Levy, clarinettist-saxophonist Michael Riessler from Ulm, Germany, is a multi-musician who cannot be easily pigeonholed. He first gained a reputation while working with contemporary composers of some distinction – Cage, Stockhausen, Reich, Kagel, Globokar. Simultaneously, Riessler managed to hitch many a ride on musical merry-go-rounds spun to totally different tunes –by Carla Bley, David Byrne, MichaelGibbs. As a consequence of his joining the Parisian new-music ensemble Musique Vivante in 1978, Riessler came in contact with Gallic jazz-innovators and representatives of folklore imaginaire. Riessler’s subsequent projects, which have frequently drawn on the well of French talent, have explored the no-man’s-land between jazz-related improvisation, contemporary composition and European folk. In his music, echoes of medieval music as well as Arabic and Mediterranean traditions are discernible. For several polystylistic works of his («Heloïse», «Les Danses des Bouffons», «Le Bûcher des Silence», «Momentum Mobile»,«Honig und Asche») Riessler has won both awards and critical acclaim.