Join Jason as he welcomes composer Alexandra Gardner to the podcast!
Praised as “highly lyrical and provocative of thought” (San Francisco Classical Voice) and “mesmerizing” (The New York Times), the music of composer Alexandra Gardner is thrilling audiences and performers alike with a “particular alchemy of craft, whimsy, and sensual appeal” (The New Yorker). She composes for varied instrumentations and often mixes acoustic instruments with electronic music and field recordings, drawing inspiration from mythology, the natural sciences, and contemporary literature.
Alexandra’s compositions are regularly featured at festivals and venues around the world, including the Aspen Music Festival, Beijing Modern Festival, Centro de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona, Festival Cervantino, Grand Teton Music Festival, The Kennedy Center, The Library of Congress, Merkin Hall, Strathmore Music Center, Symphony Space, and the Warsaw Autumn Festival. Her music has been commissioned and presented by leading organizations and ensembles such as the National Flute Association, the American Harp Society, Astral Artists, Boulanger Initiative, Chicago Composers Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, SOLI Chamber Ensemble, Strathmore Music Center, Tesla Quartet, and the United States Navy Band.
Recent works include the string quartet Watershed, commissioned by Tesla Quartet, ImmerSphere, and The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center; Lantana for Seattle Symphony principal oboist Mary Lynch VanderKolk; and Sanctuary of Joy for organist Joy-Leilani Garbutt and violinist Laura Colgate, co-founders of Boulanger Initiative. Upcoming projects include a concerto for alto saxophone and wind ensemble inspired by the recent discoveries of the James Webb Telescope and a collaboration with New Music Detroit exploring the local history of a major medical invention from the 1950s.
Among Alexandra’s honors and awards are recognitions from American Composers Forum, ASCAP, Maryland State Arts Council, Mid-America Arts Alliance, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Netherland-America Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution. She is a recipient of the Vassar College W.K. Rose Fellowship in the Creative Arts and a Rubys Artist Project Grant from the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation. She has conducted residencies at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center, Liz...
