Reinier van Houdt started working with taperecorders, radio's, objects and various string-instruments at a young age. Later, he studied piano at the Liszt-Akademie in Budapest and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Reinier has a fascination for matters that escape notation: sound, timing, space, physicality, memory, noise, environment—points beyond composition, interpretation and improvisation.
He has built himself an unusual repertoire that consistently resulted from personal quests; from collaborations with composers & musicians, from research in archives, from the composing and staging of music-performances or from unorthodox studies of classical music, and from endless taperecordings he made since the eighties.
Aside from his own music he premiered music by Robert Ashley,
Alvin Curran, Kaikhosru Sorabji,
Francisco López,
Christian Marclay,
Charlemagne Palestine, Yannis Kyriakides, Maria de Alvear,
Jerry Hunt, Michael Pisaro, Walter Marchetti, Jürg Frey, Nomi Epstein. He has also worked with
Annea Lockwood,
John Cage,
Alvin Lucier,
Luc Ferrari, Peter Ablinger. Reinier van Houdt plays in David Tibet's Current 93, where he worked with Nick Cave,
John Zorn, Anohni, Jack Barnett. He is also one of the moving forces behind the experimental music collective MAZE.
He performed in such diverse venues as The Roulette & the Issue Project Room in New York, Colegio Ildefonso Mexico City, Café Oto & Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, DOM in Moscow, Setagaya Gallery Tokyo, Paradiso Amsterdam, Apollohuis Eindhoven, the New Library in Alexandria Egypt, REDCAT & the Wulf in Los Angeles, Mills College Oakland, Non Event Boston, Kuryokhin Center in St Petersburg, Trafo Budapest, Nuits Nomadiques in Paris, Brut in Wien, HAU and Volksbühne in Berlin, Empty Gallery Hong Kong, Tramway Glasgow and Klangraum Düsseldorf. Appearances in festivals CTM Berlin, Meltdown London, Angelica Bologna, Holland Festival, Warsaw Autumn, Incubate Tilburg, UNSOUND Poland, Primavera Barcelona, November Music Den Bosch, and many others.
He won an award at Ars Electronica Linz 2012 with Francisco López, the Prix Europe 2015 with the Andcompany&Co and the first prize at Videoex 2019 with film maker Takashi Makino.
