Alex Shapiro

Alex Shapiro was the 2004 Composer-in-Residence and Festival Moderator at the Walden School in July 2004. In May 2004, she served as a panelist for the 2004 McKnight Foundation Artist Fellowship Award in St. Paul, MN. Shapiro is President of the American Composers Forum of Los Angeles, CA, and an active public speaker in the new music community. She moderated several 2004 Los Angeles events, including the American Composers Forum Salon Series, interviews with composers Gavin Bryars and Steve Reich, and a panel for the Music Business Chops seminar in Hollywood. Shapiro co-hosted a special “First Nights” presentation of Steven Stucky’s Second Concerto for Orchestra, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic led by conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen at Walt Disney Hall. She invites readers to visit her Web site at www.alexshapiro.org to read more about her work and to listen to audio samples of her recent pieces.

Premieres

Of Wood and Touch was introduced by pianist Teresa McCollough and cellist Gianna Abondolo in February 2004, at Old First Church, San Francisco, CA. Bioplasm, commissioned by the California Association of Music Teachers (CAMT) was premiered in February by the Los Angeles Flute Quartet during the CAMT State Convention in Long Beach, CA. The SSA version of Celebrate! was presented by the San Fernando Valley Youth Chorus in June, Los Angeles, CA. The Orenunn Trio performed its commissioned work Elegy, for trumpet, cello, and piano, during September in Spearfish, SD.

Performances

Sonata for Piano was performed by McCollough in March 2004 at the Musica della Donne Festival at California State University ­-Hayward. Violinist Sabrina Ann Berger presented Desert Waves in April, at the Cutting Edge concert series in New York, NY. Piano Suite No.1: The Resonance of Childhood was also performed in April by Susanne Kessel at the MoMA of New York: The American Season 2004 concert series in Berlin, Germany. At the Abyss was heard in a performance by pianist McCollough (who commissioned the work) and percussionists Tom Burritt and Peggy Benkeser at the April UCSC Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, CA. Slip was presented by harpsichordist Maria Clotilde Sieni and violinist Antonio D’Andrea during May at the Conservatorio di Musica Licinio Refice in Frosinone, Italy.

Publications

Bioplasm, flute quartet: 2 bass, 2 alto, 2 C, 1 piccolo; Elegy, trumpet, cello, and piano; Sea Song, solo Bb clarinet; all by Activist Music.

Recordings

“Music for Hammers and Sticks;” At the Abyss, three-movement work for piano, marimba, vibraphone, metal percussion; Innova Recordings

Further Information

• 2002-2003 American Composers Update
• 2001-2002 American Composers Update
• 2000-2001 American Composers Update
• 1999-2000 American Composers Update
• SAI's Composers Bureau Online
• SAI's Music for Young People section