Contrabass soloist and composer Stefano Scodanibbio has died in Mexico at the age of 55, after a battle with a form of motor neurone disease.

Scodanibbio was born in Macerata, Italy on 18 June 1956. He was best known to readers of The Wire as a frequent collaborator with Terry Riley, with whom he released Lazy Afternoon Among The Crocodiles. Scodanibbio also had work written for him by Sylvano Bussotti, Franco Donatoni, Fred Frith, Vinko Globokar, Salvatore Sciarrino, Iannis Xenakis and others.

In 1987 Scodanibbio performed a four hour marathon, playing 28 pieces by 25 composers. He was also active as a composer and wrote over 50 works for strings, and was chosen four times for the International Society of Contemporary Music, in 1990, 1993, 2002 and 2006.

In the 90s he began teaching classes and seminars at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, University of California, Stanford University, Oberlin Conservatory, Musikhochschule Stuttgart, Conservatoire de Paris, and Conservatorio di Milano.