Mike "Rhino" Rihner is a 3rd generation New Orleans resident who has lived in the Crescent City all his life. Mike began piano lessons at age 8, and then he went on to study guitar, bass, and drums while he was a student at Jesuit High School in New Orleans. Mike marched in the Jesuit drum line for four years in dozens of Mardi Gras parades. During this time, Mike got involved in theater as he was cast in the lead role of the comedy, "Scapino" and also cast as "Thisbe" in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." At age 18, Mike began touring regionally as lead singer and keyboardist with the New Orleans band, "Stiletto," which toured all across the south, opening up for various classic bands such as the Grass Roots. After two years of intense regional performing, began collegiate music studies at the University of New Orleans.

While at UNO, Mike studied jazz improvisation with Ellis Marsalis and classical composition and theory with Dr. Jerry Sieg. During this time, Mike played all over New Orleans in various ensembles, including the renowned local big band, "South." Mike soon formed his own classic rock trio, "Zone One," which performed for several years in the New Orleans area. While at UNO, Mike was still actively involved in theater, being cast as the "One-Man-Band" in the production of "Planet Fires," among other shows. Mike composed original soundtrack music for the UNO Video Department and was also appointed Musical Director for two UNO musical theater productions, "The Fantastiks," and "Hair." In 1989, Mike was awarded the Southeastern Composers League Composers Award for one of his original chamber music pieces. For his final semester of course work at UNO, Mike was admitted to the UNO student exchange program and traveled abroad to study advanced music composition in Innsbruck, Austria.

In the summer of 1990, Mike began what would be a regular summer gig as Entertainment Director at the beautifully historic hotels and lodges of Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana. In the Spring of 1991, Mike joined the award-winning contemporary jazz group from New Orleans, "Entourage," and was also named the pianist for the New Orleans-based classic jazz-swing vocal group, "In the Mood." These two groups performed extensively throughout the south at major festivals, music clubs, and college campuses. These groups opened up for such notable jazz greats as guitarist Larry Carlton, banjo master Bela Fleck, and clarinetist Pete Fountain, to name a few.

In 1991, Mike was awarded a graduate assistantship to continue his music studies at LSU in Baton Rouge, where he received his Master of Music degree in 1994. Also in 1994, Mike was awarded the Louisiana Jazz Composers Award and Grant, which was sponsored by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and The Louisiana Arts Council via New Orleans-based Musicians for Music. A half-hour video performance/documentary of 7 of Mike's original modern jazz tunes was video recorded in 1994. The resulting music documentary is still occasionally broadcast on local cable TV Cox channel 10 in New Orleans. This video eventually inspired the recording and the release of "Rhino and the Safari Men" debut CD in 1998, and it was then that the "Rhino" band was born. "Rhino and the Safari Men" went on to perform at several major festivals and music clubs in the New Orleans area, including Tipitinas, the Howling Wolf, Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The "Rhino" band also appeared many times on local music television programs "L-TV," "New Orleans Live," and "Louisiana Jukebox."

In 1996, Mike began his professional teaching career in the music department at Delgado Community College and simultaneously in the Loyola University College of Music in New Orleans. In 1997, Mike was offered an instructor position in the music department at the famed New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. Mike held all three prestigious teaching positions until 2001, when he then decided to work full-time at NOCCA. Mike served as Chairman of the NOCCA Music Department from 2002-2004, and he is now coordinator of the Music Theory Department and gives instruction to jazz, vocal, and classical music students.

In 2001, after the success of "Rhino and the Safari Men," Mike decided to go in a more acoustic direction, and he subsequently recorded and produced two original full-length compact discs of acoustic modern jazz. This new band, titled the "Rhino Acoustic Project," recorded "The Path Less Traveled" (2002) and "Big Fish in a Small Pond" (2004.) This dynamic group of stellar New Orleans jazz musicians performed at notable local music venues, including a performance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

In 2004, Mike was commissioned to compose an original orchestral suite based on his original piano music from the "Glacier Park Piano Reflections" CD (also recorded and produced in 2002.) During the rest of the year, Mike worked on orchestrating and composing this musical suite, and the resulting seven-movement work, the "Waterton-Glacier Suite," was premiered in Vancouver, Canada in May 2005.

In 2005, Mike was awarded a grant from the SURDNA Foundation in New York to compose another large-scale orchestral work. This SURDNA grant led to the composition of the "New Orleans Suite," a six-movement symphonic suite based on famous scenes and places in New Orleans. The "New Orleans Suite" was premiered at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts in May 2006.

In 2007, Mike returned to the recording studio to compose and produce another full-length modern jazz CD project. The titles of the songs on this adventurous foray into electric jazz fusion are based on a popular science fiction novel by Douglas Adams. Mike's newest CD, "Guide to the Galaxy," was released in the Fall of 2007.

During the summer of 2008, Mike will be performing again in beautiful Glacier National Park, Montana for another summer of making music in the mountains!