Glacier's piano man

Composer Mike Rihner works in rarefied air in the summer months — he’s the pianist in the hallowed halls of the Glacier Park Lodge.

“I feel like John Muir hit the nail on the head when he said, ‘coming to the mountains is coming home,’” Rihner said during a visit last week.

Sitting on the porch of the lodge in East Glacier, the New Orleans native expressed joy at being able to spend the summer in Glacier — what he calls “a little piece of paradise on earth” — performing for guests in his 20th summer.

Rihner began playing the piano at age 10, and picked up guitar in high school. He was also a drummer in his school band, and he thinks that marching in Mardi Gras parades gave him a strong sense of rhythm.

“By the time I graduated high school, I had a lot of songs under my fingers,” he said.

Rihner started out as an engineering major at the University of New Orleans, and took music theory classes for fun.

“I was there for fun, but I was doing better than most of the music majors,” he recalled. “I loved music and how it’s put together.”

He considered a career change.

“I remember thinking, I’m doing pretty good in this music stuff... and I was sitting in an engineering class thinking about chord progressions and thought, maybe it’s time to switch.”

When it came time to tell his father about his change of direction, he was met with support.

“My father was a very practical man, and music is a tough path, you know,” Rihner said. “But he told me, ‘Well son, give it 110 percent and let me know when you get to Carnegie Hall.’”

Rihner did just that.

His father was in the audience in 2009 when Rihner’s “New Orleans Suite” symphony was played by the New Orleans Youth Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.

After college, in the summer of 1990, Rihner was hired as an entertainment director. He spent that first summer at Many Glacier, playing piano and guitar and singing, and also directing other nightly entertainment, including violin, clarinet, and flute players. Rihner credits this first post-grad job to Mr. Ian B. Tippet, who served as the human resources director at Glacier Park Incorporated for several decades.

“It was his vision to hire musicians to work in the lodges,” Rihner said. “His vision was to serve the guests, bring music to the guests, and give musicians the opportunity to interact.”

It was Tippet’s vision, and the resulting fliers across the country seeking musicians, that led Rihner to Glacier. It also led to him composing music while in the Park.

“To have the opportunity to compose — it’s not like you open the paper and see ‘composers wanted,’” Rihner said. It only took that first summer for Rihner to become hooked.

“As soon as I saw these mountains and this beauty — the mountains were like a song to me. They started singing and the lyrics were clear to me and I knew I would do whatever it took to keep coming back,” he added.

Interaction with guests and fellow musicians has had a major hand in Rihner’s career. A guest at the lodge from Vancouver heard what was at the time a quartet playing one of Rihner’s original pieces. He asked Rihner to expand the song to make it suitable for a full orchestra. The resulting “Waterton-Glacier Suite” was performed in 2005 in New Westminster, Canada, by the New Westminster Symphony Orchestra.

After that, Rihner turned back to his first home for inspiration.

“I had written so much about Montana — my second home — then it was about New Orleans,” he said.

He composed “New Orleans Suite” which was the first of his symphonies to be played at Carnegie Hall.

“It’s kind of a joke,” he said. “When people ask ‘How did you get to Carnegie Hall?’ I always say ‘well, in my case, it was through Glacier!’”

A medley of Rihner’s “Glacier Suite” was performed by the Glacier Symphony and Chorale in Kalispell at the Centennial Concert in 2010 when Glacier celebrated its centennial.

In 2015, the New Orleans Youth Orchestra returned to Carnegie Hall for their 20th anniversary and performed “New Orleans Symphonic Dances,” marking Rihner’s second piece to be performed there.

He credits GPI for its support over the years.

“Glacier Park Inc. is keeping music alive at Glacier Park Lodge,” Rihner said. “It’s a tribute to them for seeing the importance of live music in the lodge.”

Rihner doesn’t take the lodge for granted, either.

“The beauty of playing in this historic lodge is a real thrill,” he said. The massive lodge was built in 1913.

Rihner performs at the lodge five nights a week over the six weeks he spends in the summer.

He also does afternoon performances at St. Mary’s on occasion.

“Original does sell well, but the clientele is so diverse, as a musician I have to have a diverse repertoire and I’m happy to do it,” he said. To that end, along with performing original compositions, Rihner also does covers ranging from Broadway hits to pop to country to classical.

“John Denver is always good,” he said, bursting into a snippet of “Rocky Mountain High.” Even though he’s the featured musician, Rihner is happy to share the spotlight and his love of music.

“Getting people involved is my way of honoring Mr. Tippet’s vision. I like to ask others to join me,” he said.

In the off season, Rihner returns to New Orleans. He has been teaching there for 20 years now, at Loyola University and at his alma mater, the University of New Orleans, as well as at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, an arts high school for gifted and talented students. He is currently working on another symphony and has released several CDs. Rihner was also recently commissioned by the National Park Service in New Orleans to compose “The Battle of New Orleans,” another symphonic piece.

“I feel like I chose the right thing, to be a composer,” he said. And he’s chosen the right place to do it.

“Beethoven and Mahler did a lot of composing in the mountains. Nature was a great inspiration and it’s the same for me. Being here recharges my spirit and my soul,” he said.

It’s not only his spirit the music caters to.

“Music soothes the restless soul,” Rihner said. “That’s part of the magic of this job. If my piano playing adds just a little more joy to their vacation I’ve done my job.”