Herman Rieken was born in 1961 in Bussum, which rewarded him in 1982 with a scholarship. During his studies in Amsterdam at the Sweelinck Conservatory he played in the National-, European- and the World Youth Orchestra and as a freelancer he worked with all the mayor orchestras of Holland and Iceland. He was percussionist (everything besides drumset) in the Metropole Orchestra (the Dutch radio orchestra for popular music) from 1994 till 2002, when the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra offered him the position of solo-percussionist after having played there as a free-lancer for 20 years.



He is a member of the Amsterdam Percussion Group since its founding in 1980. Taught at a music school from 1985 till 1994 and at several international (summer-)courses; nowadays he is teaching orchestral repertoire at the Amsterdam Percussion Group Institute, coaching percussion sections of several youth orchestras and is frequently asked as jury-member for competitions, exams and auditions.