© 2003 Jim Newman

Stephen Scott was born in Oregon in 1944 to parents trained in the sciences who were also talented amateur musicians. Early study of music included tutoring in recorder in Bristol, England, clarinet and
saxophone in elementary and secondary school bands, and private study and transcription of recordings by Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Gil Evans, Oliver Nelson and John Coltrane in high school. He studied composition at the University of Oregon with Homer Keller, and at Brown University with Gerald Shapiro and Paul Nelson, and traveled to Ghana, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe in 1970 to study African music. In Ghana, Scott met and studied informally with Steve Reich; later he collaborated with Terry Riley, and these two composers became his most significant influences outside jazz.

Scott is professor of music at Colorado College. In 1977 Scott founded the Bowed Piano Ensemble, which has toured and broadcast widely in the United States, Europe and Australia. The Ensemble has performed at the Sydney Opera House, Almeida Opera Festival, New Music America Los Angeles, Cabrillo Festival, Town Hall, World Financial Center, Walker Art Center, Theatre Artaud, Musica Ficta Festival, Festival de Musica Visual (Lanzarote, Canary Islands)and Sionna Festival (Limerick). The Ensemble records for New Albion Records, and their televised performances have been seen on network broadcasts in the U.S., Australia, United Kingdom, Spain and Estonia, and at the MIP Video Festival in Cannes.