Elizabeth Alexander

Elizabeth Alexander (b. 1962) grew up in the Carolinas and Appalachian Ohio. Her love of music, language and challenging questions is reflected in her catalog of over 100 songs and choral works, and a style which moves effortlessly between concert stage, choir loft and jam session. Her music has been performed by soloists, chamber musicians and orchestras around the world, as well as by thousands of choirs.

Her acclaimed text settings of both original lyrics and the words of others prompted Choral Director Magazine to write that her “mastery of prosody and declamation results in a marriage between music and text that is dynamic and indelible.” Other reviewers have described her music as “brilliantly innovative” (New York Concert Review), “truly inspired” (Boston Intelligencer) and “stunning…exquisite…sculpting light into sound” (Kansas City Metropolis).

Elizabeth’s many commissions have included works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo instruments and voice, but she is best known for her choral pieces, which have been performed by thousands of choruses worldwide. A recent McKnight Composition Fellow, she has also received grants, awards and fellowships from the Jerome Foundation, New Music USA, Minnesota State Arts Board, New York Council on the Arts, Wisconsin Arts Board, National Orchestral Association, International League of Women Composers, American Composers Forum. She studied composition with Steven Stucky, Jack Gallagher, Yehudi Wyner and Karel Husa, receiving her doctorate in Music Composition from Cornell University.

She lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where she reads voraciously, makes pretty good biscuits, looks for all kinds of excuses to visit her two grown sons, and gardens during the three month period in Minnesota which is not winter.