Roger Eno
Composer
Roger Eno is a British composer and musician whose distinctive style as a recording artist has attracted a cult following. In March 2020, just as the pandemic lockdown commenced, he made his debut on Deutsche Grammophon with Mixing Colours, his first duo album with his brother, Brian. The record attracted great praise from media and public alike, with quotes such as this one from The Guardian: “its slowly unspooling, generative beauty feels like a balm for these anxious times”.
Following on, in August 2021, the two brothers performed together for the very first time, showcasing tracks from Mixing Colours as well as solo works to a rapturous audience at the UNESCO World Heritage site, the Acropolis in Athens.
Roger’s latest solo album, The Turning Year, was out on Deutsche Grammophon in April 2022. The Turning Year allows the listener to step through Roger Eno’s looking-glass, filled as it is with free-flowing, affecting compositions. A blend of recent compositions and live favourites from Eno’s concert repertoire, the album offers a comprehensive presentation of Roger’s solo work. Once again, his work has drawn widespread acclaim : “..a keen sense for delicate, unornamented melodies, that serve as vehicles for reflection.” – Pitchfork. In 2023, he released his third album with Deutsch Grammophon, The skies, they shift like chords… to equal critical acclaim, and played sold out live dates in Los Angeles and New York
Eno was born in the Suffolk market town of Woodbridge. He became immersed in music at school and bought a battered upright piano with money earned every Saturday as a butcher’s boy. His musical education continued at Colchester Institute School of Music. After a brief interlude playing jazz piano in private clubs in London, he returned to East Anglia.
As well as first collaborating with his brother Brian and Daniel Lanois in 1983 on Apollo:Atmospheres and Soundtracks, he has made over a dozen solo albums and other collaborative pieces with the likes of Peter Hammill, The Orb and his first “band”, the ambient supergroup Channel Light Vessel, whose line-up included Laraaji, Kate St. John, Bill Nelson and Japanese cellist Mayumi Tachibana. He’s also teamed up as a session musician and band member with artists as diverse as The Orb, Lou Reed, Jarvis Cocker and Beck, and not to mention his three-year stint as Musical Director for Tim Robbins and his band, The Rogues Gallery.
Known as a solo composer in both theatre and film, Roger scored Trevor Nunn’s highly acclaimed production of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal at London’s National Theatre and, morerecently, Nick Hornby’s Emmy winning TV series State of the Union directed by Stephen Frears.
Beyond that he has contributed music to many film soundtracks over the years.Roger Eno lives in a small town on the border of Suffolk and Norfolk. Those two rural counties, with their quiet lanes, medieval churches and waterways, have given focus and intensity to the natural introspection of his music. He has described his creative process as one of “decomposing”- improvising in his studio early in the morning to later strip away all excess from the result to reveal the essence of the piece. His approach to the world has been likened to that of a visitor to a flea market, that nothing should be ignored, that the curious can be all too easily overlooked…
Selected Credits
FILM
Erica Jong: Breaking the Wall (Documentary Feature)
Rise and Shine World Sales
Director: Kaspar Kasics
Producers: Sereina Gabathuler, Kaspar Kasics, Werner Schweizer
Starring: Erica Jong
Warm Summer Rain
TWE
Director: Joe Gayton
Producers: Lionel Wigram
Starring: Kelly Lynch, Barry Tubb, Ron Sloan
For All Mankind (With Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois)
Director: Al Reinhert
Producers: Betsy Broyles Breier, Al Reinert
Starring: Jim Lovell
SERIES
State of the Union
Sundance TV
Director: Stephen Frears
Producers: Nick Hornby, Iain Canning, Hakan Kousetta, Kamie Laurenson
Starring: Patricia Clarkson, Brendan Gleeson
Mr. Wroe’s Virgins (With Brian Eno)
BBC
Director: Danny Boyle
Producers: John Chapman
Starring: Jonathan Pryce, Kathy Burke, Minnie Driver
*BAFTA Nominated
THEATRE
Betrayal
The National Theatre
Director: Trevor Nunn
Written by: Harold Pinter