Stephen A. Scott ’69 AM

Stephen A. Scott ’69 AM, of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Mar. 10, from complications of dementia. After serving in the U.S. Army and graduating from the University of Oregon, he earned a master’s degree in music composition from Brown. He then joined the faculty at Colorado College, where he taught courses in jazz, composition, and electronic and experimental music. While there, he founded the Bowed Piano Ensemble, which was composed of 10 musicians, most of them Colorado College students that he directed, and used nylon filament, rosined horsehair and other implements to create an orchestral sound from the inside of a grand piano. The ensemble gained international fame and toured widely over the next several decades, including performances at Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, and the Sydney Opera House. In 2004, he was a resident scholar at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Study and Conference Center on Lake Como, Italy, and in 2008 he was named USA Simon Fellow by United States Artists. He retired in 2014 as professor emeritus of music at Colorado College. He was listed in New Grove’s Dictionary of American Music and Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. His music can be heard on the New Albion, Navona, and Albany labels and at www.bowedpianoensemble.com. He is survived by his wife, Victoria Hansen, who toured with the Bowed Piano Ensemble as a soprano soloist; a daughter; a son; two stepchildren; four grandchildren; a sister; and a brother.