Pianist, organist, and jazz musician, Lars Potteiger, was born and raised in the Reading area. The earliest roots of his musical journey began in childhood.
“My earliest memory of becoming interested in music is as a young child. My family was pretty musical; my father was a trombone player, and my mother was also involved with some of my early musical training. One grandfather was my piano teacher from the age of five, my other grandfather was a country western singer, and I did some of that with him. I studied piano and other instruments, and I sang, but professionally, I focused in piano. I performed in school and in church with the choir, and started working on jazz during my teen years. My dad was into big band, not classical, so I had improv and jazz lessons as a teen and pursued that specialty as I got older. My grandfather, who was a singer in the Reading area, and who taught me until my teenage years, was definitely one of my biggest influences.”
Lars’s early music experiences remained within the Reading area until higher aspirations led him to Cincinnati and New York City for many years before returning to his roots in Reading.
“I graduated from Exeter High School and pursued my undergraduate degree at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, where I majored in Jazz Studies and Studio Music. After graduation, I remained in Cincinnati for seven years, until 2005, when I decided to move to New York City, where I lived for ten years. Cincinnati was a wonderful city to cut my teeth in. I started playing paid performances in my mid-teens in Reading and Berks, but in Cincinnati I started getting opportunities through school that were very beneficial. There were great performance opportunities, and I got to play with some people of note who were jazz people. It was great for me because I was able to establish myself and pay my bills. It was the greatest thing ever, a very vibrant scene, playing a weekly gig with a group called Cat City each Sunday at a local jazz club. Most of the guys were older. I would write and arrange, and I was open to playing the music. As I became more involved in the music scene, I felt that I had to go to New York City where you measure yourself against everyone else – I had some good experience playing around and touring throughout the US and internationally. I got to work with many legends on a random weeknight. It was great experience for me, with great opportunities.”
Looking for a change from the fast-paced life as a working jazz musician, Lars returned to Reading in 2015, ready to do things differently.
“I liked the proximity of Reading to New York City for traveling back and forth, while establishing myself as an adjunct teacher on the faculty at Albright College on a part-time basis. I created a life as a working musician, combining my work with Albright with church work in Lancaster, free-lancing, and performing as a working artist. Most of these years, I was affiliated with JazzFest, headlined with the Chamber Orchestra in Reading, the High School All-Star Jazz Group, and The Gershwin Jazz Players. I have been in Reading for 11 to 12 years. It’s important to me that my father still lives in the Reading area, and I found it to be a nice environment and a great music scene. I set up shop and went from there. It is much easier financially to live here; New York is incredibly expensive. Here I can afford a better quality of life. It is not as easy living in New York, however, nothing else compares to the opportunities found there.”
Since his return to Reading, Lars has been busy with local performances, and music collaborations. He is the Director of Music Ministry at Lancaster Church of the Apostles UCC, where he conducts the choir, supervises the music staff, teaches organ and piano, and arts instruction at the Academy of the Arts. For most of his free-lance work, he travels to southeastern and central PA.
“I have a project that I am planning to do which will be a recording of a series of meditations. it is a solo piano recording entitled “Meditation”. I also work with Mike’s Tavern in a group called Root Down, and playing with other solo artists. As a jazz organist, I am regularly involved with the Northmont Jazz Jam on the fourth Saturday of the month for students and professionals. It is held at the Northmont Fellowship Association in Northmont, in the evening from 5-8. It is open to students and adults who want to play old-time jazz jams. My latest performance highlights include Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with Berks Sinfonietta during JazzFest in the spring. In late spring and early summer I played with the Glenn Miller Orchestra in Sellersville. A year ago I had the chance to do a concert with singers from the Spinners, and the Temptations, a Motown nostalgia show with legends who are now in their 80’s. They are still great, and put on a great show which was held in North Jersey outside of New York. Working with GC Cameron, and Glenn Leonard, who sang with the Temptations, was amazing.”
Future plans for this talented musician are largely centered on recording.
“I am coming out with a recording, let’s say, early in 2027. One thing I am broadly looking to do is more recording; I would like to get more done in terms of recording music, including live performances with some of the groups I work with. As a working musician, I’m caught in trip-taking work for income, but it is becoming less of an interest for me. Performance settings are so much more rewarding. I am pushing myself to do more of this type of work, becoming better at the instrument and the material, making me grow as a musician. I am constantly looking toward artistic growth.”
While working with local jazz artist, Chris Heslop, on a jazz opera entitled The Bear Prince at the Miller Center in downtown Reading about 11 years ago, Lars met Berks Opera Company’s Artistic Director, Tammy Black. The couple now resides in Reading, where they enjoy sharing their immense talents with the music and arts community in Berks County. They both enjoy being active and when not engaged in musical pursuits, can be found hiking on the many paths gracing our homeplace.
Follow Lars Potteiger at larspotteiger.com or on Facebook and Instagram
