{{Short description|American composer}} {{Infobox person | name = Alex Burtzos | image = Alex Burtzos 2024 - 2.jpg | caption = Alex Burtzos in 2024 | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1985|11|11}} | birth_place = Denver, Colorado | alma_mater = Loyola University New Orleans Manhattan School of Music | occupation = Composer | website = https://alexburtzosmusic.com/ }} '''Alex Burtzos''' (born 1985 in Denver, Colorado, United States) is an American composer based in New York City and Orlando, Florida.
==Life and career== Alex Burtzos was born in Denver, Colorado, and grew up in nearby Colorado Springs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newmusicusa.org/profile/alexburtzos/|title=New Music USA - "Alex Burtzos"|last=|first=|date=|website=Newmusicusa.org|access-date=18 December 2018}}</ref> He studied music at Loyola University New Orleans before moving to New York City in 2010, where he earned his doctorate in composition from Manhattan School of Music in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.msmnyc.edu/alumni/news/|title=Manhattan School of Music Alumni Achievements|last=|first=|date=|website=Msmnyc.edu|access-date=18 December 2018}}</ref> His primary teachers include James Paton Walsh, J. Mark Stambaugh, and Reiko Fueting.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.reikofueting.com/teaching|title=Reiko Fueting - List of Students|last=|first=|date=|website=Reikofueting.com|access-date=18 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224170613/https://www.reikofueting.com/teaching/|archive-date=24 December 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> Burtzos' music has been performed across four continents, and has received awards from numerous organizations within the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.societyfornewmusic.org/about.cfm|title=Brian Israel Award - List of Winners|last=|first=|date=|website=Societyfornewmusic.org|access-date=18 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.memphisflyer.com/MusicBlog/archives/2017/06/20/belvedere-chamber-music-festival-brings-classical-performers-and-composers-from-around-the-globe|title=Memphis Flyer: "Belvedere Chamber Music Festival brings classical performers and composers from around the globe"|last=|first=|date=|website=Memphisflyer.org|access-date=18 December 2018}}</ref> He has received particular attention for his compositions for authentic baroque-era instruments.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2018/06/14/new-music-old-instruments-with-aston-magna/QXipPAzHLBw1ULoLFEGP7O/story.html|title=Boston Globe - "New music, old instruments with Aston Magna"|last=|first=|date=|website=Bostonglobe.com|access-date=18 December 2018}}</ref> Other of Burtzos' compositions utilize rappers, metal guitar, and other sounds drawn from popular music.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://today.ucf.edu/new-music-professor-composes-classical-music-twist/|title=UCF Today - "New UCF Music Professor Composes Classical Music With a Twist"|last=|first=|date=|website=Today.ucf.edu|access-date=18 December 2018}}</ref>
Burtzos is the founder of ICEBERG New Music, a composers collective based in New York City.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/blueshift-ensemble-partners-with-new-yorks-iceberg-at-crosstown/Content?oid=13678975|title=Memphis Flyer - "Blueshift Ensemble partners with New York's ICEBERG at Crosstown"|last=|first=|date=|website=Memphisflyer.com|access-date=18 December 2018}}</ref> In 2018, he was named the Endowed Chair of Composition Studies at The University of Central Florida.<ref name="auto"/>
==Compositions== ===Solo=== * ''pWr'' (2021) for Cello Solo * ''Perforation'' (2018) for Piano Solo * ''Should the Wide World Roll Away'' (2018) for Piano Solo * ''Wilfred Owen at the Gates'' (2015) for Piano Solo * ''He Never Heard That Fleshless Chant'' (2011) for Oboe Solo * ''Football in Marja'' (2011) for Piano Solo * ''Baroque Fantasy on 'Go Down, Moses''' (2008) for Organ Solo
===Chamber=== * ''Sin City'' (2023) for big band * ''What We Wish to Remember of Ourselves'' (2021) for woodwind quartet and piano * ''Relativity'' (2020) for three bassoons * ''SEA'' (2020) for two vibraphonists * ''Atoms'' (2020) for electric guitar and drum kit * ''PIPES'' (2020) for 10 flutes * ''King | Cawdor'' (2019) for violin, bass clarinet, cello, and piano * ''Māyā'' (2019) for woodwind quintet * ''R A G E'' (2018) for ensemble * ''pOwer trIo'' (2018) for saxophone, piano, percussion * ''The Birth of Dangun'' (2018) for piano trio * ''we ain't got no $$$ honey but DAMN we got _____'' (2017) for percussion quartet * ''Megalopolis'' (2017) for saxophone ensemble * ''The Hourglass Equation'' (2017) for flute, violin, bassoon, and harpsichord * ''The F Word'' (2016) for amplified ensemble with MC * ''SONATA/SONARE'' (2016) for trio sonata * ''The Rembrandt of Avenue A'' (2015) for amplified ensemble with MC * ''X Codes'' (2015) for violin, clarinet, and piano * ''Alice and Zoltan 4ever'' (2014) for saxophone, bass trombone, and piano * ''One Final Gyre'' (2014) for two saxophones * ''OMAHA (all the things you could be you are you were)'' (2014) for string quartet * ''The Impossible Object'' (2014) for violin and piano * ''SXTG >;-)'' (2013) for clarinet, cello, and guitar * ''Teach the Torches to Burn Bright'' (2013) for violin, clarinet, and piano * ''12.14.12'' (2013) for ensembles * ''Prince Prospero'' (2013) for soprano, flute, oboe, saxophone, guitar, piano, and percussion * ''A Country of Vast Designs'' (2012) for string quartet * ''The Revivalist'' (2012) for saxophone quartet * ''March the Twenty-Fifth'' (2011) for woodwind quartet * ''The Outlaw in the Gilded Age'' (2010) for violin, clarinet, saxophone, horn and piano
===Choral and vocal=== * ''Sky'' (2022) for soprano, baritone, and piano * ''Five Arias from 'HE Who Gets Slapped''' (2022) for five vocal soloists with piano * ''Wooden Woman'' (2020) for singing cellist with chamber orchestra * ''MIRABILIS'' (2018) for SSAATTBB chorus with string sextet * ''Many Worlds I'' (2016) for baritone, trumpet, bass clarinet, and trombone * ''The Explosion, and Other Tales'' (2016) for mezzo-soprano and piano * ''Gursky Songs'' (2015) for baritone and piano trio * ''Love and Loss and Loathing and Lizards'' ''(2015)'' for soprano, MC, and amplified ensemble * ''Come Away Death'' (2012) for Countertenor and Harp with SATB chorus * ''The Hill Wife'' (2012) for mezzo-soprano with ensemble * ''Days Into Days'' (2011) for soprano with large ensemble
===Electronic and mixed media=== * ''The Turing Test'' (2019) for two guitars and fixed media * ''LEGION (2017)'' for flute, piano, and fixed media * ''When He First Appears'' (2017) for soprano, viola, harp, and fixed media * ''MASKS'' (2016) for baritone, guitar, piano, and tape * ''In a Cool, Green Hall'' (2010) for mixed media
===Orchestra and wind ensemble=== * ''d[RAM]edy'' (2023), concerto for piano and wind ensemble * ''Arias and Interludes from 'HE Who Gets Slapped''' (2022) for five vocal soloists and orchestra * ''Echo Chamber'' (2019) for wind ensemble * ''Pulse'' (2019) for orchestra * ''The Black Riders'' (2013) for orchestra * ''Sky Above Clouds'' (2011) for orchestra * ''In Search of a Bird'' (2011) for chamber orchestra * ''The Conqueror'' (2009) for wind ensemble * ''Psyche'' (2009) for wind ensemble * ''Colorado'' (2008) arranged for wind ensemble * ''Colorado'' (2007) for orchestra
=== Opera === * ''HE Who Gets Slapped'' (2022), opera in two acts
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burtzos, Alex}} Category:Living people Category:1985 births Category:21st-century American composers Category:21st-century American male composers