—Music & Vision Magazine

"[Shapiro's music is] enough to give one hope for the contemporary music scene."

—All Music Guide

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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.

Click the MP3 icon to hear an excerpt. Click the title to learn more about it.

Audio clips will automatically load and play. Need a free player? Click here.

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:

To join the mailing list to receive concert information for your area and news of Alex Shapiro CD releases, click here

Alex's life and approach to her music career are the subject of a ten-page article, Compose, Communicate and Connect, for the Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music, Spring 2005 issue. The article was reprinted in the autumn 2005 and winter 2006 issues of The American Composers Forum magazine, Sounding Board. To download this article, as well as to enjoy several other print and broadcast interviews, click here

"Listen Up! Don't ask any questions. Simply go to this page, and click on each of the three MP3 excerpts from a composition (a string quintet) titled..., Current Events. It will do wonders for your heart, mind, and soul, and convince those of you who regard the 21st century as a bleak one for worthy new classical music (among whose number I often count myself) that perhaps things are not nearly so bleak as they might at times seem... Needless to say, we're also adding Ms. Shapiro's blog to our exclusive Culture Blogs listing on the sidebar."

––from A.C. Douglas, Sounds & Fury, 4/21/06

Alex was the Keynote Speaker for the 2006 Society of Composers, Inc. National Student Conference at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, October 13.

Alex has been featured on panels for all four of the enormous ASCAP "I Create Music" EXPOs, including giving a workshop titled, Your E-Career: No One is Local Anymore, with composer Frank J. Oteri that was moderated by ASCAP's Director of Concert Music, Frances Richard.

Alex has also just finished Below, a work for contrabass flute and electronics, commissioned by flutist Peter Sheridan for his upcoming CD, Below: Music for Low Flutes, and live performances. She's been working on several other new electro-acoustic pieces, in which an instrumentalist is accompanied by a prerecorded electronic soundscape, that will appear on her upcoming CD, Alextronica.

2006 Guest Composer and Festival Moderator
Santa Clara University New Music Festival

2005 Subito Award for Music for Two Big Instruments
The American Composers Forum

Alex moderated the 25th Composer's Salon hosted by The American Composers Forum of Los Angeles.

This sold-out Salon featured guest composers Gernot Wolfgang, Bei Bei He, Drew Schnurr, Michael Roth and Academy Award winner Randy Newman presenting and discussing their recent works.

At Tuttomedia Studios,
in Venice, California.

Alex moderated the 24th Composer's Salon hosted by The American Composers Forum of Los Angeles.

Emmy award winner Bruce Broughton, and Jennifer Logan and Christian Eloy presented recent pieces to peers, followed by in-depth conversations about their working processes.

At Tuttomedia Studios,
in Venice, California.

Alex conducted a workshop at the ASCAP "I Create Music" EXPO titled, Your E-Career: No One is Local Anymore, with composer Frank J. Oteri, and moderated by ASCAP's Director of Concert Music, Frances Richard. Alex also appeared on the Career Resources Round Table with Ed Harsh, Frank J. Oteri and Craig Carnahan, to discuss composer advocacy organizations as they had at ASCAP's 2006 EXPO. Moderated by ASCAP's Assistant VP of Concert Music, Cia Toscanini.

At The Renaissance Hollywood Hotel,
in Hollywood, California.

Alex moderated a Composer to Composer interview with Pulitzer Prize winner Christopher Rouse, whose Requiem premiered March 25th with the Los Angeles Master Chorale at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Presented by The American Composers Forum of Los Angeles, Alex's previous interviews in this series include those with Steve Reich, Don Davis and Billy Childs.

At Walt Disney
Concert Hall
in downtown Los Angeles.

Alex moderated and presented at the 23rd Composer's Salon hosted by The American Composers Forum of Los Angeles.

Pulitzer Prize winner Steven Stucky, and Michael Roth and Alice Ripley presented recent pieces to peers, followed by in-depth conversation. Having interviewed over 80 composers for this series, Alex was also one of the presenters this time, and along with percussionist Dan Morris, shared the details involved in creating the first track of her upcoming 2007 CD, Notes From The Kelp, titled, Slipping.

At Tuttomedia Studios,
in Venice, California.

Alex was the Keynote Speaker and Composer-in-Residence for the Society of Composers, Inc. National Student Conference.

At Arizona State University,
in Tempe, Arizona.

At the Chamber Music America Conference, Alex spoke on a panel discussion about the world of blogging, with blogmeisters Drew McManus and Sequenza21's Jerry Bowles. Alex also exhibited her catalog of scores and CDs throughout the three-day event.

At the Westin Times Square
in New York City.

My compositions are a very personal expression, but I also write to give musicians pieces which they'll really enjoy playing, and to offer audiences music which will speak to them directly and emotionally. As with the sea which surrounds me here on San Juan Island, there's an ebb and flood to this happy relationship. I compose music because I have to, without expectation that others will resonate with it, yet with the hope that many might. My art is a tidepool, inviting others to enter and thrive.

Composing is a lot like making love. We're trying to please ourselves. We're hoping to please at least one other person. And, we are in fact, communicating. Passionately.

Music is a passionate message to be shared, and I compose to communicate. Ideally, my work will show you not only a glimpse of me, but a reflection of yourself.

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It's the intimacy of the magic triangle of composer, musicians and audience which draws me to compose so often for small chamber ensembles. In the midst of writing, I love exploring and balancing the voice of each instrument within a group. When I have the opportunity to rehearse one of my pieces with players, it's exciting to be part of the volley of interpretations and personalities. Music lives through the art of others.

Finally, as the ensemble performs my work, the triangle between me, the musicians and the audience is complete. A musical idea which was formerly a personal impression has now become a public gesture.

Traditionally, a composer's catalog of pieces is viewed by instrumentation, and you'll find such a listing on the Works page of this site. But I think that the music itself and the emotions it elicits are the best indicator of what a writer has to say, and so I put together the Dial-a-Mood page to offer a quick sampling of a variety of styles. It's almost as interactive as I am.

So, there's a bit about me and what motivates my work as a composer. If you'd like to read a little more on my thoughts about composers, listeners and life in general, my musings continue here

Or, begin clicking around the other pages on this site to learn more about my background, read about my recent pieces and hear audio clips of my music. Drop me an email if you feel like it; I love hearing from people around the world. Enjoy!

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