About Susanne

“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.

“Susanne is a beautiful musician who plays with conviction, great passion, lovely intonation, a good ear, always deeply attuned to everything going on around her (something I REALLY appreciate), and a deep-in-the-pocket groove.”

— Guy Klucevsek, Accordionist & Composer

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.

Susanne Ortner Trio

Last Stop Sehnsucht

“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)

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