Born in 1977 in Bern, Switzerland, Samuel grew up in a musically-connected family. He played the piano from age seven and switched over to drums when he was fourteen. Later he studied at the Hochschule der Künste (formerly the Swiss Jazz School) in Bern with Billie Brooks. In 2000, after studying in Boston for over a year, he became an in-demand drummer in Switzerland and started touring Europe with Patrick Muller Trio, Nya, Wolfert Brederode, Susanne Abbuehl Group, and Malcolm Braff, Bänz Oester among others. Since 2003 he lives in Berlin and has became one of the influential musicians of his generation for improvised music.

Rohre has performed and recorded with artists such as Sidsel Endresen, Skuli Sverrisson, 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 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, and his new trio with Trygve Seim and Harmen Fraanje. He has played on major festivals like the NorthSea Festival Rotterdam NL, JVC Festival Amsterdam, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Fest., Portland Jazzfestival and many more.