Alex Shapiro

Alex Shapiro is President of the American Composers Forum of Los Angeles, CA, and a very active public speaker in the new music community. She moderated several 2005 Los Angeles events, including the American Composers Forum Salon Series, interviews with composers Billy Childs and Don Davis at Walt Disney Concert Hall following the dress rehearsals of their respective premieres with the Los Angeles Master Chorale. She was the 2005 New Music Festival Moderator at Santa Clara University, February 2004, featuring composers Chen Yi and Alvin Singleton. Shapiro was also the featured composer in the ten-page autobiographical lead article, “Compose, Communicate and Connect,” for the Spring 2005 issue of the Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music. She was also profiled in the March 2005 SEAMUS Online magazine by the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States. Alex Shapiro invites readers to visit her website at www.alexshapiro.org to read more about her work and to listen to audio samples of her recent pieces.

Premieres

Plasma was introduced in April 2005 by the Los Angeles Flute Quartet, 60 x 60 Project, New York, NY. Desert Tide was first heard in a September performance by soprano saxophonist Douglas Masek, 2005 Stellenbosch Music and Art Festival, Cape Town, South Africa. Ensemble Green presented Desert Notes for oboe, bassoon, and piano in October, Los Angeles, CA.

Performances

Piano Suite No.1: The Resonance of Childhood was performed by pianist Susanne Kessel in April 2005 in Reykjavik, Iceland; July in Bad Neuenahr, Germany; and September in Bonn, Germany. Music for Two Big Instruments was presented in May by tubaist Alan Baer in Los Angeles, CA. Harpsichordist Kathleen McIntosh and violinist Robin Lorentz presented Slip in June, Havana, Cuba. Sonata for Piano was performed by Teresa McCollough in June at the Beijing Modern Music Festival, China. The Los Angeles Flute Quartet performed Bioplasm in San Francisco, CA, January 2006.

Publications

Chakra Suite, Indian 32-string veena and electronic soundscape on CD, one movement (commissioned Shri Thakur Chakrapani Singh); Unhinged, electronics (created for the 2005 60 x 60 Project); Desert Tide, soprano saxophone and electronic soundscape on CD, one movement (commissioned Douglas Masek); Deep, contrabassoon and electronic soundscape on CD (commissioned Carolyn Beck); all by Activist Music.

Recordings

Above and Beyond: “Bioplasm,” Los Angeles Flute Quartet; LAFQ Records 0605 CD. Coast to Coast: “Music for Two Big Instruments,” Alan Baer, tuba, and Bradley Haag, piano; Baer Tracks Records CD. La Discordantia: “Slip,” Antonio D’Andrea, violin and Maria Clotilde Siene, harpsichord; DC Records CD. Beck and Call: “Of Breath and Touch,” Carolyn Beck, bassoon, and Delores Stevens, piano; Deep, contrabassoon and electronic soundscape, Carolyn Beck, contrabassoon; Crystal Records CD.

Further Information

• 2003-2004 American Composers Update
• 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