Alex Weiser

Alex Weiser is an American composer of contemporary classical music.

Biography

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][6]

Weiser's debut album, and all the days were purple, was released by Cantaloupe Music in April 2019.[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][10][11][12][13]

Other of Weiser's works explore Jewish themes as well including an opera, State of the Jews, which is a historical drama about Theodor Herzl,[14][15] and after shir hashirim for chamber orchestra which takes its inspiration from the biblical Song of Songs.[16] Common themes in Weiser's work also include death and transience as exemplified by his work Three Epitaphs.[17] 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,[18][19] and water hollows stone for piano four hands, written for HOCKET Piano Duo.[1]

In addition to his work as a composer and at YIVO, Weiser is co-founder and artistic director of Kettle Corn New Music,[20][21] and worked for about five years as the Director of Operations and Development at the MATA Festival.[22][23]

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gollark: I do not think this is actually the case.
gollark: Is this the "they hate me" thing again?
gollark: I'm considering it.
gollark: Not that it has complete logs of all public messages of course; that's not in the public source and so cannot happen.

References
  1. Norton, Nick. "HOCKET Interviews Composers, round 4: Alex Weiser". New Classic LA. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  2. "Clarity and Awe: Spotlight on Composer Alex Weiser". YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. YIVO. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  3. Tommasini, Anthony. "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 1442272244.
  5. Delarue. "An Auspicious Portrait of Emerging Composers Fjola Evans and Alex Weiser". Lucid Culture. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  6. Weiser, Alex. "Biography". Alex Weiser Official Website. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  7. "Alex Weiser". Cantaloupe Music. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  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.
  10. delarue. "Alex Weiser Resurrects a Brilliantly Obscure Tradition of Jewish Art-Song". New York Music Daily. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  11. Haber, Gordon. "Jewish But Not Judaic: Alex Weiser's New Album". LABA Journal. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  12. Weiser, Alex. "A Homecoming to a Jewish World I Never Knew Existed". YIVO. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  13. Pisano, Steven. ""and all the days were purple": Music by Alex Weiser at Roulette". Feast of Music. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  14. Grudo, Gideon (11 May 2019). "For Some Jews, Yiddish History Is Sanctuary. For Others, It's 'Dangerous.'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  15. Kutzik, Jordan (5 December 2019). "New Opera About Theodor Herzl Explores His Complex Nature". Forward. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  16. "Cantata Profana Performs Gustav Mahler's Das Lied Von Der Erde - Concert Program" (PDF). YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. YIVO. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  17. Kriegeskotte, Christian. "Kettle Corn New Music Closes 4th Season with Epitaphs and Fairytales". I Care If You Listen. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  18. da Fonesca-Wollheim, Corinna (22 June 2017). "Cellist in an Echo Chamber, Echo Chamber". New York Times. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  19. Andrews, Matthew Neil. "Spontaneous Combustion reviews 2: sublime solos, dynamic duo". Oregon Arts Watch. ArtsWatch. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  20. Allen, David (8 June 2015). "Review: Lisa Moore at DiMenna Center". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  21. Meyer, Jack. "Kettle Corn Pops at The DiMenna Center". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  22. Oteri, Frank. "MATA at 20". New Music Box. New Music USA. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  23. Smith, Steve (10 June 2019). "Recitals: Alex Weiser". The New Yorker. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
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