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"...Alex Shapiro is a name people should know, she's got it all. She is, in a word, a serious and significant composer
of beautiful music. Hats off!"
—Music & Vision Magazine
"[Shapiro's music is] enough to give one hope for the contemporary music scene." —All Music Guide |
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Quick links on this page |
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Music sampler | |
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Essays and interviews | |
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Special live events | |
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| Private teaching studio | ||
| Blog! Notes from the Kelp | ||
Alex news |
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Available now! Notes from the Kelp. |
The response to this CD has been terrific. Read the review All Music Guide gave it: |
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Add some algae to your life and buy a copy! |
Or, download and enjoy right now! |
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Please allow the Snocap player to load... |
You're invited to the islands.
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Alex interactive |
Read Kyle Gann's profile on Alex and the music of Notes from the Kelp, for his American Composer series in the May/June 2008 issue of Chamber Music magazine  |
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| Tune in for Composing Thoughts on WITF-FM, to stream a very animated interview Alex gave with host John Clare which aired April 27. |
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| Enjoy virtual visits with Alex in the online magazine Tokafi, where her March 2008 (1.) interview ranges from the serious to the silly, and her August 2006 interview (2,) exposes her typically direct opinions on life and music |
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| Listen to Alex discuss her new CD, Notes form the Kelp, as a featured artist on the ASCAP Audio Portraits interview series. |
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| See Alex's latest essays about the nonmusical concepts behind a very musical career (1.), and about how composers can create income from their web presence (2.!), in the online magazine NewMusicBox |
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| Look at the one-page Q & A with Alex in the July 2008 issue of Vegetarian Times magazine |
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| Hear Alex Shapiro's recent live interview about composers and society, in Philip Blackburn's podcast series for the American Composers Forum, Measure for Measure. Here's Part 1 & Part 2. |  |
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| Experience Alex's irreverent sense of humor in her essay that debunks the myths of symphonic concerts. |
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| Add Alex as a friend at MySpace! |  |
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| Jul 7 | Water Voyage (clarinet duet and electronics) Kansas City, Missouri | |
| Jul 11 | Deep (contrabassoon and prerecorded electronics; ) Fort Wayne, Indiana | |
| Jul 25 | Vista (violin and prerecorded electronics) Ljubljana, Slovenia | |
| Aug 22 | Alex Shapiro concert (Slipping, For My Father, Music for Two Big Instruments) Second Life | |
| Aug 25 | Below (coontrabass flute and electronics) Melbourne, Australia | |
| Sep 5 | Flea Circus (clarinet, violin and piano) New York, New York | |
| Sep 6 | Flea Circus (clarinet, violin and piano) New York, New York | |
| Sep 6 & 7 | Current Events (string quintet; broadcast) Click to listen, 12pm, Berlin, Germany | |
| Oct 15 | Homecoming (concert wind band) Minneapolis, Minnesota | |
| Oct 25 | Plasma (flute quartet) Udine, Italy | |
| Oct 25 | Flea Circus (clarinet, violin and piano) Udine, Italy | |
| Nov 7 | Alex Shapiro & Michael Rhoades (various electroacoustic works) Fort Wayne, Indiana | |
| Nov 11 | Transplant (solo organ) Long Beach, California | |
| Nov 14 | Flea Circus (clarinet, violin and piano) New York, New York | |
| Dec 7 | Evensong Suite (flute, clarinet, bassoon and piano) San Miguel de Allende, Mexico | |
| 2009 | ||
| Mar 6 | Homecoming (concert wind band) Tacoma, Washington | |
| Mar 7 | Below (coontrabass flute and electronics) Melbourne, Australia | |
| Apr 17 | Below (coontrabass flute and electronics) Melbourne, Australia | |
| Apr 26 | Homecoming (concert wind band) Wayzata, Minnesota | |
| May 30 | Desert Thoughts (flute, clarinet and piano; premiere) Ridgewood, New Jersey | |
| For information about performances, visit Concerts |
Some 2008-2009 speaking appearances |
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November 7, 2008: Join Alex and colleague Michael Rhoades for an unusual and entertaining concert of their electroacoustic works, presented on the Sweetwater Electroacoustic Music Concert Series in Sweetwater Sound's stunning new theater. Music, video, dance, and lots of interactive conversation with the audience, will make this a very special evening. Join in the fun at 5501 US Hwy 30 W, Fort Wayne, IN. | ||
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December 16-20, 2008: Meet and talk with Alex at the huge Midwest Clinic band and orchestra conference at the Hilton Chicago! | ||
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January 16-18, 2009: Alex will moderate and speak on a panel titled, Virtual becomes Reality: Building Community Through Technology, at the National Conference of Chamber Music America, at the Westin Times Square in New York City. Come hear what she and fellow panelists Frank J. Oteri, Drew McManus and Billy Childs have to say about the best ways to use the internet to create thriving music careers. | ||
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February 1, and April 26, 2009 : Alex will moderate these Composers Salon, at Tuttomedia Studios, in Venice, CA. Read about past guests on this special live series further down the page at Live Events. | ||
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February 5-7, 2009: Alex will be the Moderator and a composer-in-residence of the 2009 New Music Festival at Santa Clara University, featuring composers Joan Tower and Pamela Quist. | ||
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April 4-5, 2009: Alex will be conducting workshops in career-building as part of the American Composers Forum seminar series, Composers Tool Kit. | ||
Some 2008 speaking appearances |
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October 5: Alex led an engaging pre-concert talk with the Seattle Chamber Players prior to their concert at the Orcas Center. For details, click HERE |
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June 12: Alex represented musicians on a panel for which she was also the moderator, at the enormous National Performing Arts Convention in Denver, CO, at the Colorado Convention Center. Her guests were leaders from the music, theater and dance world, including Rob Capili, Johannes Goebel, Hollis Headrick, and Erin West, discussing creating careers and audiences in the digital world. | ||
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April 12: Alex was a speaker for the third year in a row at the ASCAP EXPO at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Hollywood. Click HERE to see video excerpts from the panel discussion |
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April 13: Alex was both a presenter at, and moderator of, the 28th Composers Salon, at Tuttomedia Studios, in Venice, CA. Read about past guests on this special series further down the page at Live Events. | ||
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February 21: Friday Harbor Laboratories hosted a CD Release Party for Alex, and a large crowd turned out to hear about her life in music. Alex talked and played excerpts from Notes from the Kelp and other recent discs, and sales of the CDs benefited one of her favorite causes: the Labs' K-12 Science Outreach Program. Video of the event will be linked here soon. | ||
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On January 3rd, Alex taped an interview in New York City with violinist and host John Clare, for his WITF-FM radio show Composing Thoughts. The show aired April 27th, and you can hear the results from the combination of great questions, laughter and single malt scotch HERE. | ||
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January 4-7: Alex was an exhibitor at the Chamber Music America Conference at the Westin Times Square in Manhattan, where the entire Activist Music catalog was on display. | ||
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August 22: Tired of your first life? Well, the virtual world is a reality for musicians, and Music Academy Online is a big part of the growing trend. Alex will be a guest once again on a Second Life live concert of her music. You can watch her first appearance here. It's worth having a look, just to see the dress Alex's avatar, Asha, is wearing! | ||
| ..For information about recent events, click here |
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The best thing about composers' websites is that they're sonic business cards! Here are excerpts from four of Alex Shapiro's pieces.
Audio clips will automatically load and play.
Need a free player? Click here. |
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Listen to an excerpt from Desert Tide (2006) |
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Excerpt |
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Read about |
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Listen to excerpts from Current Events (2003) |
| Mov't 1: Surge | |
| Mov't 2: Ebb | |
| Mov't 3: Rip |
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Read about |
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Listen to excerpts from Elegy (2004) |
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Listen to excerpts from Bioplasm (2004) |
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| Singing while playing | |
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| Pitched key clicks |
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| Pitch bending, etc. |
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Listen: |
Alex's duo for violin and harpsichord, Slip, is a winner of the 2008 International Aliénor Harpsichord Composition Competition. The piece was performed on March 8 at the annual concert sponsored by the Southeast Historical Keyboard Society. An even more raucous version that adds percussion from around the world, titled Slipping, is featured as the first track on Alex's 2007 CD Notes from the Kelp.
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Homecoming premiered March 30, 2008, in Newport News, Virginia, with a second performance at Fort Monroe soon after on May 2. The concert wind band piece was commissioned by the United States Army for its acclaimed TRADOC Band of Fort Monroe, VA., led by Commander and conductor, Major Tod A. Addison. Homecoming will be performed by the University of Minnesota Symphonic Wind Ensemble on October 15th, 2008. For concert info, click here. Listen: |
Below, Alex's new work for contrabass flute and electronics commissioned by flutist Peter Sheridan, premiered at Flute Fest at the University of Arizona on April 11, 2008. The piece will appear on Sheridan's upcoming CD on Move Records, (Mis)Conceptions. Listen: |
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Good reviews |
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The Jan/Feb 2006 issue of the American Record Guide gave a terrific review to Above and Beyond, the new CD from the Los Angeles Flute Quartet, writing, "I am especially taken with the Shapiro "Bioplasm," and the May/June 2006 issue glowingly praises Carolyn Beck's CD, Beck and Call, declaring Deep's "almost gothic lyricism" "a truly unique and original composition for contrabassoon." The March 2006 issue of International Record Review states, "[Beck and Call's] disc opener [of Alex Shapiro's] Of Breath and Touch is delicate and nervous, like a fine race horse...". The May/June issue of Fanfare Magazine calls Alex's work for contrabassoon and electronics, Deep, "...texturally absorbing...", and the May 2006 issue of The Gramophone says of Deep, "The blend of sonorities is ominous and magical." |
Tom Morgan writes for the April 2008 issue of the Percussive Arts Society's magazine, Percussive Notes: "This is not a "percussion" recording, but it is full of wonderful compositions, several of which make prominent use of percussion. This eclectic group of pieces by Alex Shapiro run the gambit from joyful, almost giddy moods to dark, somber colors that remind one of Bartok or possibly Berg... This inspiring recording is great to listen to regardless if one is a percussionist or not. But At the Abyss should be considered by any percussionists looking for great literature to perform." |
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Veteran music critic Alan Rich wrote in his Feb. 2005 L. A. Weekly column, "[Alex Shapiro's string quintet, Current Events] deserves circulation... It's music exceptionally well made... I found it most attractive, especially in a long, beautifully unfolding slow movement." In Rich's July 2005 L. A. Weekly column he praises Alex's flute and oboe duet, Re:pair, as "perky and thoroughly delightful." |
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Wonderful artists feature Alex's music on their CDs, and Alex has also been spending a lot of time lately in recording studios, producing a new CD of her electro-acoustic works, titled Alextronica. A new CD titled Notes From the Kelp, comprised of eight of Alex's favorite pieces from her catalog, was released October 2007 on Innova Recordings, and can be downloaded via Snocap, iTunes or eMusic now: |
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Clariphonia: Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano |
New American Piano Music: Sonata for Piano |
Music for Hammers & Sticks: At the Abyss |
Californian Concert: For My Father |
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Above and Beyond: Bioplasm |
Beck and Call: Of Breath & Touch Deep |
Solo Rumores Luvina |
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La Discordantia: Slip |
60 x 60 2005: Unhinged |
Jenni Scott: Shiny Kiss |
Trio Chromos: Elegy |
Alextronica: Electro-acoustic Music |
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(Mis)Conceptions Below |
Inflorescence V: Shiny Kiss |
Garrison Piano Competition Scherzo |
Alex Shapiro: Notes from the Kelp |
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