Alex Shapiro (born January 11, 1962, in New York City, NY) is an American composer and creator advocate. Her acoustic and electroacoustic music concert works are characterized by their genre eclecticism incorporating influences including minimalism, 12-tone serialism, pop, jazz, electronic dance music, and cinematically inspired sound worlds. [1]
Alex Shapiro was born in Manhattan and raised in its Yorkville neighborhood. Her early education began at the 92nd Street Y, followed by two years of elementary school at P.S. 158, and then entering The Ethical Culture Fieldston School, from which she graduated high school in 1980.
Shapiro began composing at age 9 [2] and in 1977 at age 15 began formal composition lessons when she enrolled in Mannes College of Music summer classes, studying electronic music with David Tcimpidis and composition with Leo Edwards.[3][2] She was a composition student of Michael Czajkowski [4] and studied ear training with George Tsontakis at the Aspen Music School and Festival in 1978 and 1979, and was accepted as a composition major at the Pre-College Division of The Juilliard School in 1979 where she was a student of Craig Shuler and Bruce Adophe, graduating in 1980.[3]
In the fall of 1980 Shapiro enrolled in Manhattan School of Music where her primary composition teacher was Ursula Mamlok. There she also studied composition with John Corigliano, electronic music with Elias Tanenbaum,[5] and theory with Ludmila Ulehla.[6][3] In 1983, upon being hired to score a documentary film in Los Angeles, Shapiro opted to leave Manhattan School of Music before graduating, having completed her third year of undergraduate studies.[6] Shapiro was a member of the Manhattan School of Music Alumni Council from 1998 to 2016.[7]
In the summer of 1983 Shapiro moved from New York City to Los Angeles where she lived for 24 years, first in the San Fernando Valley until 1993 and then in Malibu until 2007.[8]
Shapiro began her career composing for commercial media,[9][10] and in the late 1990s made the decision to shift her focus away from writing commercial music to devote her time to composing for the concert stage. Her music catalog includes over 200 scores for large ensembles, choir, chamber ensembles, and soloists, as well as jazz charts, film cues, and pop songs. She has composed nearly 30 works for concert wind band, the majority of which are electroacoustic, and is known for her contemporary approach to the genre's repertoire at all performance skill levels, through pieces that often incorporate visual and physical multimedia, as well as extended instrumental techniques.[1]
Her works often incorporate unusual instruments such as printer paper, metal bowls of water dripped from sponges, rocks, ping pong balls, and balloons in pieces like “Paper Cut” (2010), “Liquid Compass” (2014), “Rock Music” (2016), “Masked” (2021) and “Pop Music” (2022), and make extensive use of recorded found sounds and sound design in works including “Beneath” (2010), “Trains of Thought” (2017), “Ascent” (2020), “Breathe” (2020), and “Viral” (2021). Ms. Shapiro is widely regarded as a pioneer in bringing technology into the wind band genre, both through her music and as an early adopter in engaging with ensembles in hundreds of online sessions for which she coined the term, “webhearsals”.[11] Her music in the field has been the subject of more than thirty dissertations. Conductor Aaron Noe writes, "Composer Alex Shapiro's music is cutting edge. She is a master at blending live performance and electronic performance. To say the least, she is not intimidated by new technological advancement; in fact, she embraces it and shapes it into a beautiful or energetic masterpiece.[12]
In addition to the many professional-level works in her catalog, Shapiro is known for her non-traditional contributions to educational pieces for the wind band repertoire, beginning with her seminal 2010 work for band, prerecorded track, and printer paper titled “Paper Cut” commissioned by the American Composers Forum's BandQuest program. Two of her pieces composed in 2021, “Count to Ten” and “Kitchen Sync” take highly unusual approaches to teaching students compound meters and syncopated rhythms not usually found in beginner's repertoire. “Rock Music” is a textural, minimalist piece with no melody and almost no rhythm, “Pop Music” is a serial work that explores macabre, circus-like humor and is based on a 12-tone row, and “Slump” (2024), with its ominous tone, requires musicians to continually shift their posture. In 2020 Ms. Shapiro added to the ultra-flex repertoire with an electroacoustic piece for any large ensemble titled “Passages,” the basis of which are individual one-line cells that can be played in an order, and in any combination with the audio track.
Shapiro did not begin composing for wind band until she received an unexpected commission in 2007 from the U.S. Army TRADOC Band, resulting in “Homecoming.” During the prior decade, her concert music catalog was comprised mainly of works for acoustic chamber ensembles, as well as several electroacoustic works for soloists and duets. In his 2008 composer profile article on Alex Shapiro for Chamber Music America magazine, journalist and composer Kyle Gann wrote, "Shapiro has tech skills and style information that most classical composers can only wonder at...Trained for infinite versatility, she can write any kind of music she wants, and she writes only what she wants... Shapiro has a deep connection to nature, and an engaging and articulate personality that has gotten her multifariously involved in the new-classical-music world. She gets more performances than any one person could attend, and despite her nature wonderland she's socially inclined."[13]
Among the 40 commercially released albums that include Shapiro's music are two devoted solely to her works: a compilation of her chamber music titled Notes From the Kelp (2007)[14] and a recording of her solo piano works recorded by Adam Marks for the album Arcana (2020),[15] both on Innova Recordings.
Ms. Shapiro is an active participant in the U.S. art music community. Since 2014 she has served as the Symphony and Concert Representative on the ASCAP[28] Board of Directors,[29][30] and is the first woman elected to that seat since the organization's founding in 1914. In 2015 she was elected to the board of The ASCAP Foundation[31] and in 2022 became one of its four officers.[32] From 2016 to 2019 Shapiro was ASCAP's elected representative on the executive committee of CIAM, the writer's council to CISAC,[33] the global network of collective management companies. In 2009 Shapiro joined the ASCAP Symphony & Concert Committee, which she now co-chairs with classical music publisher ASCAP board member counterpart James Kendrick.[34] Shapiro was elected as the concert music composer representative on the ASCAP Board of Review in 2010 and served until her 2014 election to the ASCAP Board of Directors.
Ms. Shapiro co-founded the U.S. touring series, the ASCAP Composer Career Workshop,[35] with James Kendrick, Stephen Paulus, and Jennifer Higdon, and from 2009 to 2015 gave 11 day-long presentations for composers about essential music business skills in venues, including the University of Chicago, Yale University, the San Francisco Conservatory, and the University of Southern California.
Shapiro joined the Board of Directors of The Aaron Copland Fund for Music[36] in 2016, and in 2022 was elected to the Board of Directors of the Music Publishers Association of the United States, on which she represents her publishing company Activist Music LLC.[37][38]
In 2021 Shapiro joined the advisory board for United Sound,[39][40] and since 2022 she has served as the Northwest Division Representative of the Council for Music Composition for NAfME.[41]
From 2010 to 2013 Shapiro chaired the composition panel for The MacDowell Colony and served on the organization's Board of Directors.
Shapiro served on the Board of Directors of the American Music Center from 2009 until 2011 when the organization shifted to become New Music USA, for which Shapiro was Chairperson of its Program Council from 2014 to 2017 and a frequent essayist to its online magazine NewMusicBox.[42]
Between 1999 and 2002, Shapiro was an officer of the Pacific Southern Chapter of the College Music Society,[43] and an officer of The National Association of Composers USA (NACUSA).[44] She was a board member of The Society of Composers & Lyricists between 1992 and 1999, including one term as its vice president. She chaired the 1996-1999 “State of the Art” Film & TV Music Conferences, co-presented in Los Angeles at The Directors Guild of America by the SCL and The Hollywood Reporter.
Shapiro was a mentor for the 2009 and 2010 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute,[49][50] and is a mentor for Graphite Publishing's Compose Like a Girl initiative.[51]
In 2021 Shapiro was initiated as an Honorary Brother of both Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma, and is the recipient of the 2021 Tau Beta Sigma's Outstanding Service to Music Award.[52]
Between 2003 and 2006 Shapiro served as president of the Board of Directors of The American Composers Forum of Los Angeles.[53] With Kubilay Uner[54] and Giovanna Imbesi she co-founded the live quarterly Los Angeles Composers Salon series and from 2000 to 2010 moderated the sessions, for which she interviewed over 100 composers from the concert, musical theater, opera, jazz, and film music worlds.
Advocacy during the pandemic
Ms. Shapiro was the sole composer invited in the spring of 2020 to join eleven collegiate wind band conductors and form the CBDNA COVID-19 Response Committee[55] to address the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on the fields of music performance and education. She co-authored a national report containing information, resources, and detailed suggestions for keeping university ensemble programs functioning.
Alex is the author of the online composition syllabus, Putting the E- in Ensemble,[56][57] an online composition, performance, and recording lesson plan created during the COVID-19 quarantine in response to the need to continue university and high school music ensemble classes throughout the year.
Shapiro is a co-founder of The Creative Repertoire Initiative,[58] formed during the COVID-19 pandemic to address the need for adaptable repertoire in the wind band and educational music field.
Advocacy in technology
In 1997 Shapiro teamed with ASCAP Board member Dean Kay to co-chair ASCAP's new Digital Rights Committee. In September 2009, Shapiro testified on a Federal Communications Commission panel hearing in Washington, D.C. about broadband access in rural areas, and copyright challenges in the digital realm. Shapiro served as co-moderator of the October 2021 ASCAP/NYU Media Lab webinar about AI and augmented realities impacting artists' lives, and in 2024 she gave a multimedia clinic on artificial intelligence, immersive performances, and their impact on concerts and education, at the College Band Directors National Association Western/Northwestern Division Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Shapiro regularly discusses new technology and the importance of understanding how it works and its effect on the music industry, as a frequent guest on webcasts and podcasts.[59]
Shapiro served on the board of directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California[61] from 1990 to 1996, including two terms as the 30,000-member affiliate's vice president.[62] During this period she served as Chairperson of ACLU/SC's State and National Legislative Action Committee, co-producer two day-long conferences, and was a frequent public speaker and debater on issues of reproductive freedom. As a co-founder of The Clinic Defense Alliance, she coordinated with the ACLU, The Fund for the Feminist Majority, The National Organization for Women (NOW), and local activists from Queer Nation and Act Up/LA[63] to gather thousands of volunteers around Los Angeles in immediate response to blockaded healthcare clinics. Shapiro is the recipient of three awards from the ACLU honoring her activism, including being named the 1993 Chapter Activist of the Year.
Ms. Shapiro is the recipient of the 2018 Local Hero Award from The Friday Harbor Film Festival.[64]
Publishing writings
Between 2003 and 2018 Shapiro penned 11 essays about music and the music business for the online magazine NewMusicBox.[65]
Shapiro is the author of a chapter in the 2013 GIA Publications book, Musicianship: Composing in Band and Orchestra, titled "Releasing A Student's Inner Composer.”[66]
Two of Shapiro’s electroacoustic works for wind band, “Paper Cut,” and “Tight Squeeze,” are featured in Volume 10 of the series, "Teaching Music Through Performance in Band," edited by Eugene Migliaro Corporon and released by GIA Publications in December 2014.[67]
Shapiro is one of six co-authors of the 2020 GIA Publications book, "The Horizon Leans Forward... Stories of Courage, Strength, and Triumph of Underrepresented Communities in the Wind Band Field," for which she wrote the chapter, "Reaching Out and Bringing Women In.”[68]
Shapiro's extensive two-part article titled, The e-Frontier: Music, Multimedia, Education, and Audiences in the Digital World, appears in the June and September 2014 issues of the magazine of the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, WASBE World.[69]
From 2006 to 2016, Shapiro regularly contributed to the blog of her music, photos, and essays titled “Notes from the Kelp.”[70]
Film appearances
Shapiro appears in three of Michael Stillwater's films[71]: Shining Night[72][73], In Search of the Great Song, which also includes some of her music[74][75], and Beyond the Fear of Singing.[76]
Additional interests
Shapiro’s web presences are infused with her wildlife and landscape photography. Her photography was featured in the 2013 Spirit of Flight exhibit at Seattle's Museum of Flight, and was also on display at the San Juan Islands Museum of Art[77] after being awarded a prize in the Ernest H. Brooks II ‘Above and Beneath the Sea’ photo competition.[78][79]
From 1983 to 1994, Shapiro was an avid amateur herpetologist and an active member of the Los Angeles chapter of The Southwestern Herpetologists Society. She cared for 40 different species of snakes, frogs and lizards, and bred Burmese pythons.[80]
Selected Discography
From a Deep Blue Sky,[81] work included: Train of Thought. Tonsehen Records, 2023.
Suspended,[82] work included: Suspended. Mark Custom Records, 2022
Arcana,[83] works included: Spark; Slowly, Searching; Arcana; Piano Suite No. 1, The Resonance of Childhood; Intermezzo; Chord History; Luvina; Sonata for Piano. Innova Recordings, 2020.
Double or Nothing,[84] work included: Deep. Mark Custom Records, 2018.
Everything Beautiful,[85] works included: Liquid Compass; Tight Squeeze. Mark Custom Records, 2016.
250 Piano Pieces for Beethoven,[86] work included: Chord History. Obst Records, 2016.
Atmospheres, work included: Water Crossing. Taukay Edizioni Musicali, 2015.[87]
Excelsior,[88] work included: Perpetual Spark. Cedille Records, 2013.
The Dreams Of Birds,[89] work included: Intermezzo. Delos Records, 2012.
An Robert Schumann,[90] work included: Slowly, searching. Obst Records, 2010.
Delicate Balance,[91] work included: Water Crossing. Aucourant Records, 2010.
Below: Music for Low Flutes,[92] work included: Below. Move Records, 2009.
Notes From The Kelp,[93] works included: Slipping; Bioplasm; Current Events; For My Father; At the Abyss; Phos Hilaron; Music for Two Big Instruments; Deep. Innova Recordings, 2007.
Solo Rumores,[94] work Included: Luvina. Quindecim Recordings, 2007.
Saxtronic Soundscape,[95] work included: Desert Tide. Centaur Records, 2007.
Trumpet Colors,[96] work included: Elegy. Crystal Records, 2007.
Californian Concert: Music of European Immigrants and Their American Contemporaries,[97] work included: For My Father. Oehms Classics, 2006.
Music for Hammers and Sticks,[98] work included: At the Abyss. Innova Recordings, 2005.
Coast to Coast,[99] work included: Music for Two Big Instruments. Baer Tracks Records, 2005.
Beck and Call,[100] works included: Of Breath and Touch; Deep. Crystal Records, 2005.
New American Piano Music,[101] work included: Sonata for Piano. Innova Recordings, 2001.
Clariphonia - Music Of The 20th Century On Clarinet,[102] work included: Trio For Violin, Clarinet And Piano. Cambria Records, 2000.
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