Monika Roscher is an award-winning composer and guitarist, and bandleader of the celebrated Monika Roscher Bigband. She studied jazz guitar with Peter O’Mara and composition with Gregor Hübner at the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts. Alongside her work for her Bigband, Roscher also composes contemporary and theater music.
Roscher wrote the live music for Ulrich Rasche’s theater productions Das große Heft (Staatsschauspiel Dresden), Woyzeck (Theater Basel), and Elektra (Residenztheater München), which captivated audiences and critics alike with their hypnotic sonic force. Her hours-long compositions for strings and rhythm section form an integral part of each production. Of Das große Heft, Deutschlandfunk noted that music, lighting, stage, and performance interlock perfectly. Der Spiegel described it as a colossal theatrical event with infernally jubilant music, while Süddeutsche Zeitung characterized the composition as an archaic minimalism somewhere between Rammstein and Steve Reich. Das große Heft and Woyzeck were both invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen. She also wrote the music for Nora Schlocker’s production of Agnes Bernauer and Claudia Bauer’s production of Die Präsidentinnen at the Residenztheater München, and played electric guitar in Sebastian Baumgarten’s production of Peer Gynt at the same theater.
She has written works for string quartet and Hackbrett (hammered dulcimer) ensembles, as well as large-ensemble works, including a fantasia for orchestra and a Dies Irae for mixed choir, wind orchestra, and organ.
Roscher is a member of the Munich Composers Collective (MCC), led by Gregor Hübner. As a guitarist, she has worked with, among others, New York avant-garde legend Elliott Sharp (Cleanfeed Records). As a vocalist, she can be heard on Gerd Baumann’s film scores for Beste Chance (directed by Marcus H. Rosenmüller) and Spieltrieb (based on the novel by Juli Zeh). She held a guest professorship in composition at Hochschule Osnabrück and regularly leads big band workshops. To coincide with the release of the Monika Roscher Bigband’s third album, she founded her own label, Zenna Records.