peter scherer

peter scherer is a new york based composer and producer with a multifaceted career encompassing music for film and dance, producing, arranging and playing with other artists from across the spectrum of contemporary music. born in zurich, switzerland, he studied piano, composition, theory and orchestration, among others with györgy ligeti and terry riley. shortly after arriving in new york in the early 80's he connected with key figures of the new york downtown scene such as kip hanrahan, arto lindsay, bill frisell, nana vasconcelos and john zorn, collaborating on numerous recording projects and performances, while also working with r&b artists like nile rodgers, cameo and many others. with lindsay he founded the ambitious lovers, mixing elements of brazilian, experimental, funk, r&b, and soul styles resulting in the release of three albums, 'envy', 'greed' and 'lust'. they also released 'pretty ugly', a compilation of music for dance and theatre. in the early nineties scherer started to further develop his unique style of sonic arrangements, exploring the potentialities of digital innovation combined with diversified musical traditions and sensibilities. this led to the release of two solo cd's, 'very neon pet' and 'cronologia'. commissions for film music followed soon, resulting in refined soundtracks such as 'never again forever' and 'another road home' for israeli film maker danae elon; the wim wenders produced 'voodoo, mounted by the gods', directed by alberto venzago; the brazilian film 'sobras em obras' about geraldo de barros, directed by michel favre; and 'aline' by swiss/indian filmmaker kamal musale. on another front scherer began collaborating with choreographer amanda miller and frankfurt ballet for two productions, 'pretty ugly' and 'no wild ones' and later with the zurich opera ballet for 'essey and pannes'. at the same time scherer began working as a producer with such artists as caetano veloso, laurie anderson, bill frisell, world saxophone quartet, corin curschellas, ute lemper and nana vasconcelos. as a keyboard player he has frequently appeared in concert and recordings with laurie anderson and has lent his personal sonic fabric to numerous recordings by such artists as marc ribot, david byrne, marisa monte, arto lindsay, john zorn, cameo, al jeareau, waldemar bastos, rebekka bakken, cyro baptista, seigen ono, kip hanrahan, nana vasconcelos, jun miyake, vinicius cantuaria, etienne daho and many others. recent activities include music for montreal dance company o vertigo latest production 'passare', for which a new cd has been released; the production of swiss pop band lobith; a sound track for rumanian filmmaker oana suteu's 'point de fuite'; several performances with composer don li and video artist pierre-yves borgeaud (a cd 'momentum no.3' will be realeased in the coming months).