Alex Weiser
BornNew York City, New York, USA
GenresContemporary classical
Occupation(s)Composer
Years active2019-present
WebsiteOfficial website
EducationYale University
New York University

Alex Weiser is an American composer of contemporary classical music.

Early life and education

Weiser was born in New York City[1] to a Jewish family. He attended Stuyvesant High School[2] and Yale University,[3] and received a master's degree in Music Theory and Composition from New York University. He studied with Paul Alan Levi,[2] Martin Bresnick,[4] Michael Gordon, and Julia Wolfe among others.[5]

Career

Weiser's debut album, and all the days were purple, was released by Cantaloupe Music in April 2019,[6] and was named a 2020 Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Music.[7] The album features singer Eliza Bagg singing songs set to poetry in Yiddish and English by poets including Anna Margolin, Rachel Korn, Abraham Sutzkever, Emily Dickinson, and William Carlos Williams.[8] Probing contemporary Jewish identity, the album grew out of Weiser's work as the Director of Public Programs at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.[9]

Other of Weiser's works explore Jewish themes as well including three operas: State of the Jews, which is a historical drama about Theodor Herzl,[10] The Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language, a chamber opera about Yudel Mark, Max Weinreich, and the famous unfinished multi-volume Yiddish dictionary,[11] and Tevye's Daughters, an opera based on the Sholem Aleichem story Shprintse.[12] Other works exploring Jewish themes include after shir hashirim for chamber orchestra which takes its inspiration from the biblical Song of Songs.[13]

Common themes in Weiser's work also include death and transience as exemplified by his work Three Epitaphs.[14] Other major works have included shimmer for eight spatially arrayed cellos written for and recorded by Ashley Bathgate as a companion piece to Steve Reich's Cello Counterpoint,[15] and water hollows stone for piano four hands, written for HOCKET.[1]

In addition to his work as a composer and at YIVO, Weiser is co-founder and artistic director of Kettle Corn New Music,[16] and worked for about five years as the Director of Operations and Development at the MATA Festival.[17]

Discography

Featured on

References

  1. 1 2 Norton, Nick (16 November 2015). "HOCKET Interviews Composers, round 4: Alex Weiser". New Classic LA. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Clarity and Awe: Spotlight on Composer Alex Weiser". YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  3. ↑ Tommasini, Anthony (24 May 2013). "New Tunes, Old Friends and Poems Set to Song". New York Times. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  4. ↑ Pfitzinger, Scott (March 1, 2017). Composer Genealogies: A Compendium of Composers, Their Teachers, and Their Students. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-4422-7224-8.
  5. ↑ Delarue (5 May 2014). "An Auspicious Portrait of Emerging Composers Fjola Evans and Alex Weiser". Lucid Culture. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
    - Weiser, Alex. "Biography". Alex Weiser Official Website. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  6. ↑ "Alex Weiser". Cantaloupe Music. March 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  7. ↑ "The 2020 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Music". Pulitzer Prize. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  8. ↑ Oltuski, Ilona. "And All The Days Were Purple". Sequenza 21. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  9. ↑ Portnoy, Eddy (27 March 2019). "From Alex Weiser, A New Musical Home For Yiddish". The Forward. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
    - delarue (12 April 2019). "Alex Weiser Resurrects a Brilliantly Obscure Tradition of Jewish Art-Song". New York Music Daily. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
    - Haber, Gordon (2 April 2019). "Jewish But Not Judaic: Alex Weiser's New Album". LABA Journal. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
    - Weiser, Alex. "A Homecoming to a Jewish World I Never Knew Existed". YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
    - Pisano, Steven. ""and all the days were purple": Music by Alex Weiser at Roulette". Feast of Music. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  10. ↑ Grudo, Gideon (11 May 2019). "For Some Jews, Yiddish History Is Sanctuary. For Others, It's 'Dangerous.'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
    - Kutzik, Jordan (5 December 2019). "New Opera About Theodor Herzl Explores His Complex Nature". Forward. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  11. ↑ "Episode 0310: The Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language". The Yiddish Book Center. 28 October 2021. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
    - Soloski, Alexis (July 2023). ""Every Word Deserves To Be Remembered": How An Unfinished Dictionary Inspired An Opera". Pakn Treger.
  12. ↑ "Public Events". Retrieved 24 September 2023.
  13. ↑ "Cantata Profana Performs Gustav Mahler's Das Lied Von Der Erde - Concert Program" (PDF). YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  14. ↑ Kriegeskotte, Christian (14 June 2016). "Kettle Corn New Music Closes 4th Season with Epitaphs and Fairytales". I Care If You Listen. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  15. ↑ da Fonesca-Wollheim, Corinna (22 June 2017). "Cellist in an Echo Chamber, Echo Chamber". New York Times. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
    - Andrews, Matthew Neil. "Spontaneous Combustion reviews 2: sublime solos, dynamic duo". Oregon Arts Watch. ArtsWatch. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  16. ↑ Allen, David (8 June 2015). "Review: Lisa Moore at DiMenna Center". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
    - Meyer, Jack (4 June 2014). "Kettle Corn Pops at The DiMenna Center". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  17. ↑ Oteri, Frank (9 April 2018). "MATA at 20". New Music Box. New Music USA. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
    - Smith, Steve (10 June 2019). "Recitals: Alex Weiser". The New Yorker. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
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