Samuel Rohrer

Born in 1977 in Switzerland, Samuel grew up in a music connected family. He played the piano from age seven and switched over to drums with the age of 14, studying with Gilbert Paeffgen, who introduced him soon to Billie Brooks, with whom he studied at the Hochschule der Künste (formerly Swiss Jazz School) in Berne later on. In 2000, after studying in Boston, he became a demand drummer in Switzerland and started touring Europe and abroad with Patrick Muller Trio, Nya, Wolfert Brederode, Susanne Abbuehl Group, Malcolm Braff, Bänz Oester, Erik Truffaz and Harald Haerter a o. Since 2003 he lives in Berlin and became one of the influental musicians of his generation for improvised music.

His flexibility and capability to move around effortlessly in different styles, from atmospheric and free sounds to straight and energetic grooves make him a very dynamical and one of the creative percussionists in the european music scene today.

Performances and recordings amongst others with artists such as Laurie Anderson, Sidsel Endresen, Skuli Sverrisson, Nan Goldin, Eivind Aarset, Max Loderbauer, Frank Möbus, Jan Bang, Vincent Courtois, Daniel Erdmann, Peter Herbert, Trygve Seim, Matthieu Michel, Mark Feldman, Charles Gayle, Sirone, Hal Crook, Michel Portal, Claudio Puntin, Carlos Bica, Ferenc Snetberger, Joao Paulo Esteves da Silva, Markus Stockhausen, Arild Andersen and many more…

He recorded several albums for ECM, Intakt, HatHut and other labels and built his own label arjunamusic records in 2012. He is touring with his own group Noreia, the Daniel Erdmann-Samuel Rohrer Quartet, Wolfert Brederode Quartet, ambiq with Claudio Puntin & Max Loderbauer, with Klaus Gesing and Björn Meyer, his new trio with Trygve Seim and Harmen Fraanje and works on several new projects.

Samuel has been touring all over the world and played on major festivals like the NorthSea Festival Rotterdam NL, JVC Festival Amsterdam, Montreal Int. Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Fest., CTM Festival Berlin, Portland Jazzfestival, MoldeJazz NO, Punkt Festival NO, Bergen Jazzfestival NO, OffBeat Basel, JazzNoJazz Zürich, JazzdOr Strasbourg, Saalfelden A, Banlieues Bleues Paris, Nevers Jazzfestival F, Festival Le Mans F, Ulju Festival Korea, EnjoyJazz Mannheim D, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival GB, London Jazzfestival GB, Jazzfestival Willisau CH, Fajir International Music Festival Tehran and many more…

After meeting so many wonderful people all over the planet and feeling at home in many different places, he would consider himself as a nomad and world citizen.