View source for Elizabeth Alexander (composer)

{{short description|American composer|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name             = Elizabeth Alexander
| image            = Elizabeth alexander composer.jpg
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| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|1962|08|06}}
| birth_place      = Chester, South Carolina
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| occupation       = [[Composer]]
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| years_active     = 1980–present
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| website          = [http://www.seafarerpress.com seafarerpress.com]
}}
'''Elizabeth Alexander''' (born August 6, 1962) is an American composer. Her works include orchestral, chamber, piano and vocal works. She is best known for her over 80 choral pieces, which have been performed internationally by thousands of choirs. Alexander is also known for her liturgical works, and themes centering on social justice.
==Biography==
Sarah Elizabeth Alexander was born in South Carolina in 1962. After several years in South and North Carolina, her family moved to the Ohio River city of Portsmouth, Ohio in 1972. Trained as a classical pianist, Alexander studied composition with [[Jack Gallagher (composer)|Jack Gallagher]] and received her Bachelor of Music in Composition from [[The College of Wooster]] in 1984. She received her doctorate in Music Composition from [[Cornell University]] in 1987, where she studied with noted composers [[Steven Stucky]], [[Karel Husa]], and [[Yehudi Wyner]]. She currently resides in St. Paul, Minnesota, and is one of the most performed composers in the Unitarian Universalist Musicians Network.<ref name=Seafarer>[http://www.seafarerpress.com/biography ''Seafarer Press'', "Biography."]</ref>
==Music==
Choral music makes up the core of Alexander's works and performances, noted for her "accessible style that is well tailored to the requirements of both semi-pro and amateur choruses."<ref>Lewis, Dave. [http://www.allmusic.com/album/finally-on-my-way-to-yes-choral-music-by-elizabeth-alexander-mw0001387473 "Review of ''Finally on My Way to Yes''"]</ref>  Her style combines the regional influences from her childhood with classical form. These melodic sensibilities include spirituals, jazz and blues from the American South, and Celtic-American folk music of Northern Appalachia, styles prevalent in her most performed octavos, "When the Song of the Angels Is Stilled," "Where There Is Light in the Soul," "Faith Is the Bird That Feels the Light," and "If You Can Walk You Can Dance."<ref name=Staruch>Staruch, Steve. [http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/09/08/elizabeth-alexander?refid=0&+culture+from+minnesota+public+radio) Minnesota Public Radio interview.]</ref>
In 1992, Alexander's "Being Who You Are," written for Waunakee Elementary School in [[Waunakee, Wisconsin]], won the KidSing Composer's Competition and was honorable mention in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hughes|first1=John Charles|title=Living Minnesota Composers|work=Choral Director|issue=November/December 2013}}</ref>
Alexander's "Reasons for the Perpetuation of Slavery" (2011) was performed at the [[Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts|Lincoln Center's]]  [[Avery Fisher Hall]] in March, 2012, hailed as “brilliantly innovative” by the New York Concert Review.<ref>Aible, Anthony. [http://nyconcertreview.com/reviews/dciny-in-review-eternal-lightshining-bright/ "Eternal Light...Shining Bright."]</ref> This work was instrumental in Alexander being named a Fellow to Minneapolis' [[McKnight Foundation]] in 2012.<ref name=Staruch />
Other awards and fellowships include the [[Jerome Hill|Jerome Foundation]], [[New York State Council on the Arts|New York Council on the Arts]], [[Wisconsin Arts Board]], [[American String Teachers Association|National School Orchestral Association]], [[International Alliance for Women in Music|International League of Women Composers]], [[American Composers Forum]], [[New Music USA|Meet the Composer]] and [[American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers|ASCAP]].<ref name=Seafarer /> She was one of several composers interviewed and featured in Debra Spurgeon's ''Conducting Women’s Choirs: Strategies for Success''.
<ref>[http://www.giamusic.com/search_details.cfm?title_id=20615 Spurgeon, Debra. ''Conducting Women's Choirs: Strategies for Success.'']</ref>
==Discography==
*"Fractals." ''Bassoon Transcended.'' Christin Schillinger, bassoon, and Jed Moss, piano. MSR Classics, 2013.
*''Finally On My Way To Yes: Choral Music of Elizabeth Alexander.'' Various Artists. Seafarer Press, 2005.
*"My Aunt Gives Me a Clarinet Lesson." ''American Masters for the 21st Century.'' Society for New Music. Innova Recordings, 2005.
*"Where There Is Light in the Soul." ''Old, New, Borrowed, Q.'' One Voice Mixed Chorus, 2008.
*"Why I Pity the Woman Who Never Spills." ''No Whining, No Flowers.'' Cornell University Chorus, 2012.
==References and notations==
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[[Category:1962 births]]
[[Category:21st-century American composers]]
[[Category:People from Portsmouth, Ohio]]
[[Category:Musicians from Ithaca, New York]]
[[Category:Musicians from Saint Paul, Minnesota]]
[[Category:College of Wooster alumni]]
[[Category:Cornell University alumni]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:21st-century American women composers]]