Alex Shapiro (b. New York City, 1962) is known for her genre-blind acoustic and electroacoustic pieces, including a significant catalog of electroacoustic works for wind band. Published by her company Activist Music LLC, Alex’s music is heard daily in concerts and broadcasts across the U.S. and internationally, and can be found on over thirty commercially released recordings.
Long established in the professional chamber music world, Ms. Shapiro is also known for her groundbreaking electroacoustic works for wind band at all performance levels. Sought after for her seamless melding of live and recorded sounds which often employ striking visual and physical elements, Alex uses technology in each aspect of a commission, from the creation of the music, to “Skypehearsals” in which she coaches thousands of musicians around the world, to customized, multimedia material delivery web pages, to the finished piece and its reach to the public through social media.
Shapiro has been a lead clinician at The Midwest Clinic, the Texas Music Educators Association, the British Columbia Music Educators Association and the CBDNA Western Division conference among many others, speaking about creative uses of technology in concert performance. Among her writings is an 8,000-word article published in two 2014 journals of the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) titled, The e-Frontier: Electroacoustic Music, Multimedia, Education, and Audiences in the Digital World. She authored the chapter, Releasing a Student’s Inner Composer for the 2013 GIA Publications book, Musicianship: Composing in Band and Orchestra, in which she explores ways to encourage creativity. Two of her electroacoustic band pieces, Paper Cut, and Tight Squeeze, are included in the GIA book/CD series, Teaching Music Through Performance in Band, Volume 10.
Educated at The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, Ms. Shapiro is an enthusiastic leader in the new music community, and advocates for other artists through speaking appearances, published articles, and volunteerism. She is the Symphonic and Concert writer member of the Board of Directors of ASCAP, and serves on the Board of Directors of the ASCAP Foundation and The Aaron Copland Fund for Music. After 21 years in Manhattan and another 24 in Los Angeles— the first 15 of which spent composing for film and television— Alex relocated in 2007 to Washington State’s remote San Juan Island. Ms. Shapiro’s wildlife photographs and her music can be experienced through social media and her website, www.alexshapiro.org