After studies in piano and composition at the RCM London and in Los Angeles, for fifteen years Rolf focused solely on working as a pianist: he has collaborated with Messiaen, Berio, Ligeti, Kurtág, Tan Dun, John Adams, Thomas Adès, Helmut Lachenmann, Unsuk Chin, Liza Lim, Karen Tanaka, Judith Weir, Elliott Carter, Benedict Mason, Rebecca Saunders, George Benjamin, James MacMillan and many more, and has premiered hundreds of new pieces throughout the world as well as playing seven times at the BBC Proms and in Sydney Opera House and Carnegie Hall. He has recently revisited the complete Messiaen Vingt Regards, with three further performances scheduled for 2025.

 

He began to compose again in the year 2000, inspired by momentous life-changes and several visits to India, which has been a big part of his life since. Large-scale compositions include a piano concerto, Maya-Sesha (nominated for a British Composer Award) and a concerto for accordion, The Tiniest House of Time, premiered at London’s Barbican Centre with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Much of his music is indeed inspired by India – its languages, philosophy, landscapes and culture – while often also drawing on the technical adventurousness of performers, including himself. Largest-scale amongst these is the hour-long On What Weft Are Woven The Waters, for hcmf// 2017.

 

His works have been played widely in Europe, the US and Asia, with conductors such as Martyn Brabbins, James MacMillan, Jessica Cottis, Jack Sheen, Aaron Holloway-Nahum and Jakub Hrůša.

 

His first “opera”, Lost in Thought, a ‘Mindfulness opera’ lasting four hours – a serious attempt to fuse elements of sung theatre and a Vipassana retreat – was commissioned by Mahogany Opera Group and premiered at The Barbican in London.

 

His large-scale piece The Secret Names, setting Roberto Calasso’s breathtaking writing on the Vedas, was premiered by the BBC Singers and the cellist Robin Michael in April 2023, and a new work for Elaine Mitchener and the ensemble Apartment House called Blue To The Throat at Wigmore Hall in April 2024.

 

Most recently he completed an opera about the poet Sufi Rumi called Sky In A Small Cage, working with Rolf’s long-time collaborator Frederic Wake-Walker and the Anglo-US poet Dante Micheaux. This premiered in Copenhagen and London in August and September 2024, with soloists including Elaine Mitchener, Loré Lixenberg, James Hall and Yannis François, Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen and Riot Ensemble.

 

His music is published by Ricordi London.