Born near Manchester in 1948 of German/Irish descent, Alec Roth’s formal studies in music were undertaken at the University of Durham, and at the Academy of Indonesian Performing Arts (ASKI) in Surakarta, Central Java.
Three long-term working relationships lie at the heart of his creative development:
His reputation as a choral composer stems from a long and fruitful association with conductor Jeffrey Skidmore and Ex Cathedra in such works as Earthrise and A Time to Dance.
His vocal music in song-cycles such as My Lute and I and A Road Less Travelled have been inspired by tenor Mark Padmore and guitarist Morgan Szymanski (for whom he has also composed a concerto and many solo pieces).
His collaborations with the writer Vikram Seth include Earth and Sky, commissioned by the BBC for the Proms in 2000; and a four-year sequence of works co-commissioned by the Salisbury, Chelsea and Lichfield Festivals (2006-9) featuring the solo violin of Philippe Honoré, including the oratorio The Traveller. Seth’s book The Rivered Earth (2011) describes their creative partnership, including an account of “the pleasures and pains of working with a composer”.
Notable performers of Roth’s music have included the Academy of St Martin in the Fields (four commissions including Departure of the Queen of Sheba), London Sinfonietta, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Allegri String Quartet, Voces8, The Sixteen, and the Choir of St Paul’s Cathedral.
The award of a Finzi Scholarship in 2015 enabled an extended stay in Leipzig to study the cantatas of J S Bach as an inspiration for his own work. In 2020 he moved to Germany at the invitation of choral conductor Nikolai Ott, initially to attend a performance of Earthrise by the Mössinger Kantorei, then staying on during the Covid pandemic. Subsequent highlights included a commission for their 75th Jubilee season from the RIAS Chamber Choir, Berlin; and a motet commemorating the 80th anniversary of the death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, premiered in Weimar by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Choir and Ensemble Nobiles. He returned to the UK in 2025.
