BIO
William Roper’s professional experience ranges
from the symphony stage to free improvisation groups. He has
toured the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe with jazz
and classical ensembles. His musicianship is represented on
recordings with the rock bands: Thelonious Monster,
The Fibonaccis and The Other Woman;
poets: Jimmy Townes and Mark Weber; avant
ensemble: Motor Totemist Guild; the Los Angeles
Philharmonic,
Parachute Express, and
Chimurenga musician Thomas
Mapfumo. He has played and/or recorded with jazzmen: The Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, American Jazz Institute
and Los
Angeles Jazz Institute ensembles, the Orchestre Surreal, The Luckman
Jazz Orchestra under James Newton, Bobby Bradford, Anthony Braxton, John
Carter, Jimmy Cleveland, Douglas Ewart, Vinny
Golia, Billy Higgins, Glenn
Horiuchi, Clay Jenkins, Yusef Lateef, James Newton, Charles
Owens, John
Rapson, Kim Richmond, Adam Rudolph,
Wadada Leo Smith, Horace Tapscott, Michael
Vlatkovich and Francis Wong. He has received
performance grants from Meet the Composer, Subito
grants from the American
Composers Forum, an ARC grant from the Durfee Foundation
and a C.O.L.A. Fellowship from the City of Los
Angeles Cultural Affairs Dept. He is cofounder and a performing
member of
Judicanti Responsura, a tuba and percussion ensemble
specializing in contemporary classical and improvised music. He
was resident at the Djerassi
Institute as the Gerald Oshita Memorial Fellow in March
2000.
William Roper has done extensive work in the fields
of theater, dance and performance art. In addition to his own work
he has collaborated with such artists as Jackie Apple,
Linda Austin, Bob Carroll, Heidi Duckler, John Fleck, Anna Homler, Scott Kellman, Dan
Kwong, Jeff McMahon,
Joseph Mitchell, Betty Nash, Gloria Newman, Rudy Perez
, Will Salmon, Joseph Santarromana, Eve Stabolepszy and Bernie White. He has received a 1993
NEA New Genres grant to create a new work in collaboration with
video artist Joseph Santarromana. In
1989 he cofounded Tomato Sage Consortium, a non-profit
performance organization. This organization has received grants
from the City of Los
Angeles Cultural Affairs Department and the California Arts Council.
In the visual arts he has received fellowships from
the Brody Arts Fund and ArtMatters, Inc. In 1990 he created a site-
specific installation at New York's J.F.K. airport under the auspices
of the Organization of Independent Artists. His billboard:A Flight of Angels,
toured the Los Angeles area for four months in 1990.
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This page was last updated on August 01, 2005