Born near Manchester of German/Irish heritage in 1948, Alec Roth’s family were not musical; the serendipitous gift of a piano at the age of five started his musical life. His formal compositional studies began at Durham University aged 28 and were influenced by a period living in Java, after which he founded the Gamelan Programme at London’s South Bank Centre. His music has been performed by some of the UK’s leading performers including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Allegri String Quartet, and the choir of St Paul’s Cathedral. His long-standing collaboration with the writer Vikram Seth has included a four-year sequence of works commissioned by the Salisbury, Chelsea and Lichfield Festivals. https://www.alecroth.com