Personal message from Rita

10 October 2012

Dear everyone,

I want to thank all of you for your good wishes on the occasion of my birthday. It was heart-warming to receive so many kind words from you. I wish you and yours a Merry Christmas, and a healthy, successful New Year!

Love, Rita Reys

Rita Reys at Paradiso Amsterdam

10 October 2012

Great news: On Sunday 12 May next year Rita Reys will make her début at Paradiso Amsterdam. Paradiso is best known for its pop concerts; during its long history artists like Tina Turner, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and Joss Stone performed there. During the concert Rita will perform her personal favorites from the Great American Songbook, and new repertoire as well. She'll be accompanied by the Peter Beets Quartet. Tickets can be ordered from next Saturday via www.ticketservice.nl. We hope to see you at Paradiso next year, and celebrate this special evening with us!

Rita Reys to perform at the North Sea Jazz Festival

9 February 2012

On Friday 6 July Rita Reys will give her 20th performance during the North Sea Jazz Festival, Holland’s biggest yearly jazz event. She will be accompanied by the Peter Beets Trio, with Beets on piano, Ruud Jacobs on bass and Joost Patocka on drums. Other artists to play at this year’s edition are Tony Bennett, Van Morrison, Wayne Shorter and Pat Metheny. For tickets visit www.northseajazz.com.

Rita Reys & Metropole Orchestra on Nederland 2

9 February 2012

Tomorrow Omroep Max will broadcast the second part of the Rogier van Otterloo tribute concert that was recorded last year with the Metropole Orchestra at Vredenburg Leidsche Rijn. Rita performed a beautiful Burt Bacharach classic, which she recorded with Van Otterloo in 1972 for her Bacharach Songbook album: One Less Bell to Answer. The program starts at 5:35 PM on Nederland 2.

Rita Reys receives Royal decoration

21 November 2011

Last Monday Rita Reys was decorated as Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion (Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw), on occasion of her 70 years stage jubilee this year, and because of her unique contribution to the Dutch music industry. The event took place in Rotterdam, where Rita was born and raised, on the SS Rotterdam (a cruise ship that once sailed the Holland-America Line). After the decoration she was interviewed by NOS TV news, Show News a.o., and performed with her trio.

Rita Reys appears on the cover of LINDA magazine

10 October 2011

Rita Reys and six other Dutch ‘grandes dames’ will appear on the cover of November’s edition of LINDA magazine, together with Linda de Mol. Inside you’ll find interviews and individual portraits with each of them. The photo’s were made by Erwin Olaf. The other ladies are Mies Bouwman, Neelie Kroes, Ellen Vogel, Adele Bloemendaal, Joan Haanappel and Liesbeth List.

Rita Reys on De Wereld Draait Door

13 September 2011

Rita Reys made her appearance tonight on Dutch national TV show De Wereld Draait Door. Accompanied by only Marius Beets on bass she sang “How Deep Is The Ocean”, a well known classic from the Great American Songbook.

Update YouTube channel

8 January 2011

Rita Reys’s YouTube channel has recently been updated. A couple of nice videos have been added, for example of her wonderful rendition of Irving Berlin’s Russian Lullaby, and a video of the presentation of the Edison Oeuvre Award to Rita, at the Royal Carré Theatre. Another special one is Rita Reys’s and Toots Thielemans’s performance of Barbie Girl, the Aqua hit from 1998 that they turned into a sort of jazz song on occasion of the 75 years celebration of the Dutch broadcasting company AVRO.

Visit the YouTube channel here.

Personal message from Rita Reys

22 December 2010

I would like to thank every one of you for the lovely birthday wishes you sent me this year. Although it's impossible for me to answer you all personally, you should know it is heartwarming to receive so many kind words from you.

I wish you all a merry Christmas, and a healthy and happy 2011.

Love,

Rita Reys

Rita Reys on TV show Tijd voor Max

21 december 2010

Last thuesday, 16 December appeared on public TV show Tijd voor Max (Nederland 2). With hosts Martine van Os en Sybrand Niessen she spoke about her life and career in the music business. As a surprise for her birthday, a couple of days later, Dutch singer and actor Edwin Rutten, a life-long fan of Rita, sang her a song and gave her a big bouquet of red roses. Accompanied by Peter Beets, Ruud Jacobs, Martijn van Iterson and Gijs Dijkhuizen she performed the title song of her new album, Young at Heart, and the holiday tune Let It Snow.

Click here to watch the show.

Follow Rita Reys on Twitter

25 November 2010

Today we launched Rita Reys’ official Twitter account. Click here

Rita Reys, Marco Borsato and Rob de Nijs honorary guests at 50 years celebration Edison Awards

25 November 2010

Last night singers Rita Reys, Marco Borsato and Rob de Nijs were the guests of honor at the 50 years celebration of the Edison Awards, the dutch equivalent to the Grammys. Rita was one of the first performers to receive the award, back in 1961 for her album Marriage in Modern Jazz. In 2006 she was the first dutch jazz musician to receive the Edision Oeuvre Award.

Rita Reys appears on BBC Radio 2 again

30 August 2010

The BBC Radio 2 program The Russell Davies Song Show will again pay attention to Rita Reys. They sent us the following message:

'Just to let you know that Rita makes another appearance in Russell's show on September 5th singing "Poor Butterfly" in concert with Pim, Kenny & co. We just thought it was a wonderful, swinging version and it beat the others we considered (Sarah Vaughan, Susannah McCorkle etc etc.)'

For more information about the program please visit www.bbc.co.uk