"One of London’s noted experimental music figures." – The Quietus
"A multi talented musician who produces a range of truly diverse and eclectic work." – ThisWeek London
“With an ear for the cutting edge and a technique to match, Alex Roth's music can be considered at the forefront of London's newest art music.” – Edge Music show, Shoreditch Radio
"One of London contemporary music’s most innovative and impressive talents." – Daniel Paton, musicOMH
"A rising star on the creative jazz scene." – Stephen Graham, Marlbank
“Alex Roth's guitar playing involves the fascinating creation of texture. He has absorbed the colours and vocabulary and trick-box of guitarists as diverse as Bill Frisell and Fred Frith, and can take the listener on a journey in every tune.” – Sebastian Scotney, London Jazz News
photo by Klaudia Krupa
Born in Detroit, raised in London and now based in Kraków, Alex Roth is a composer, guitarist, producer and interdisciplinary collaborator known as “one of contemporary music’s most innovative and impressive talents” (musicOMH). His diverse body of work encompasses improvised performances; a wide range of concert music from solo to orchestral compositions; scores for dance, theatre and film; leading numerous bands; producing electronic music; and sound installations. He has collaborated with leading experimental musicians such as Tim Berne, John Butcher, Arve Henriksen, Savina Yannatou, Kit Downes, Mikolaj Trzaska and Olga Szwajgier.
Alex leads the acclaimed improvising trio Cut The Sky, whose debut album, with Waclaw Zimpel and Hubert Zemler, was selected by Polityka as one of 2023's best releases. He founded the networked ensemble MultiTraction Orchestra, whose debut LP Reactor One was Contemporary Album of the Month in The Guardian, who called it as "a remarkable sonic collage by an A-list of international improvisers.” He also produces experimental electronic music as Supersigil; and co-directs Sephardic music group Sefiroth (for whom he also directed the multimedia performance Arvoles Lloran por Luvia).
Alex's compositions have been recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra and London Sinfonietta, and his discography also includes releases by critically acclaimed quartet Blue-Eyed Hawk, electric guitar ensemble Future Currents, singer/songwriter Alice Zawadzki (whose debut album China Lane Alex co-produced), Mercury Prize nominee Laura Jurd's Human Spirit, and Orcadian fiddler/singer/songwriter Catriona Price, among other recordings on labels such as Superpang, Edition, Whirlwind, Diatribe and NMC.
Alex’s many scores include Celina Liesegang and Arturo Bandinelli's movement film VISCERA; Kasia Witek's dance performances one wall of me and Solastalgia; Klaudia Wittmann's Head Bucket Bed KWAM Collective’s immersive performance installation Kit; Théâtre Volière's Cavafy-inspired Ionic; and the site-specific, augmented-reality app Memory Score.
Alex's installations include (Dis)possessed, which was commissioned by and later acquired by POLIN Museum in Warsaw, and uses sounds from objects in the museum's collection that were made out of desecrated Torah parchment during and after WW2; and Carry No Burden, a 150-metre-long interactive sound sculpture surrounding the site of a Holocaust massacre in Poland's Chodówki Forest.
A prolific interdisciplinary collaborator, Alex often works with choreographers, poets, painters, sculptors, theatre- and film-makers. He can be heard on numerous television soundtracks across BBC, ITV and Channel 4—including Jon Opstad's score for Black Mirror - White Bear—and has featured on radio stations worldwide.
In 2022 Alex founded Zyla, a multidisciplinary label for experimental arts. Zyla's inaugural season of releases was curated around Alex's Inpouring EP (a collaboration with experimental cellist Alice Purton), and distributed across both traditional (web2) and emerging (web3) platforms. He has since lectured on web3 tools for musicians at several of the UK's most prestigious universities, including the Royal Academy of Music.
Alex holds a BA in composition from Dartington College of Arts and an MA in jazz from the Royal Academy of Music. His many accolades include the Dankworth Prize for Jazz Composition, The Irish Times “Best Jazz Album” award, and a Creative Scholarship from the City of Krakow. He has been a British Music Collection “New Voices” artist, a Serious “Take Five” artist, and an LSO Soundhub Associate. He was also shortlisted for a BASCA British Composer Award and nominated with Blue-Eyed Hawk as “Best Newcomer” in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, among other honours.
Alex has received commissions from BBC Radio 3, Warsaw's POLIN Museum, London Jazz Festival, and radical Polish-Jewish art collective FestivALT. He has been composer-in-residence at the Galicia Jewish Museum in Kraków; with dance company Sounding Motion; and with improvising chamber ensemble Notes Inégales in partnership with the Institute of Composing. His work has been supported by Arts Council England, British Council, Sound and Music, Help Musicians UK, PRSF, Canada Council for the Arts and Asylum Arts (NYC).
Alex has performed at many of the UK's most renowned venues like the Royal Albert Hall, Southbank Centre, Barbican, and Victoria & Albert Museum, as well as festivals such as the BBC Proms and Love Supreme. He has also performed in the US and over a dozen countries across Europe at such festivals as Dublin Electronic Arts Festival, Unsound (Poland), GAIA (Switzerland) and Gogolfest (Ukraine).