Scott Roller

* 1959 in the USA, died in 2024; cellist, composer and improviser; co-founder of the Ensemble SurPlus Freiburg; in 2005 he founded the association Open Music, which is devoted to conveying musical improvisation; freelance cellist in contemporary music, improvisation and crossover formats; he sought connections between music and other art forms, especially dance, visual art, theatre and literature. Roller grew up in Illinois and studied cello and composition for three years at the University of Texas in Austin; a scholarship took him to Paris at the age of twenty for courses at IRCAM, and he completed his bachelor’s degree at North Texas State University in Denton. From 1981 to 1983 he belonged to the improvising quartet BL Lacerta, which received a residency from Chamber Music America in Dallas and worked with John Cage and Pauline Oliveros. As a cellist he played in the Wolpe-Trio with Lesley Olson (alto flute) and Susanne Achilles (piano). His compositions include “For Richard Serra” (1999), prompted by that sculptor’s iron sculptures, and the duo for violin and cello “Serraval” (1999/2000), which brings together six miniatures under the subtitle “Six Poems”. The association Open Music in Stuttgart, which he co-founded in 2005, has been supported by the city since 2012. For Cybele Records he can be heard as cellist on the albums Harmonies and Counterpoints between Germany and America (1999), Colours of Silence (2003) and Feedback Studio Köln Vol. 7 – Johannes Fritsch: 3 Trios (2006).