{{short description|American classical composer}} {{Infobox musical artist | background = person | name = Alex Weiser | image = | alt = | caption = | alias = | birth_date = <!-- {{Birth date and age|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | birth_place = New York City, New York, USA | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date first) --> | death_place = | genre = Contemporary classical | occupation = Composer | instrument = | discography = | years_active = 2019-present | label = | current_member_of = | past_member_of = | spouse = | partner = <!-- (unmarried long-term partner) --> | website = {{official|http://www.AlexWeiser.com/}} | module = {{Infobox person | embed = yes | education = Yale University<br/>New York University }}}} '''Alex Weiser''' is an American composer of contemporary classical music.
==Early life and education== Weiser was born in New York City<ref name = ":1">{{cite web|last1=Norton|first1=Nick|title=HOCKET Interviews Composers, round 4: Alex Weiser|url=http://newclassic.la/2015/11/16/hocket-interviews-composers-alex-weiser/|website=New Classic LA|date=16 November 2015 |access-date=7 May 2018}}</ref> to a Jewish family. He attended Stuyvesant High School<ref name=":2">{{cite web|title=Clarity and Awe: Spotlight on Composer Alex Weiser|url=https://yivo.org/Spotlight-on-Alex-Weiser|publisher=YIVO Institute for Jewish Research|access-date=7 May 2018}}</ref> and Yale University,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Tommasini|first1=Anthony|title=New Tunes, Old Friends and Poems Set to Song|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/arts/music/new-amsterdam-singers-at-st-ignatius-of-antioch-episcopal-church.html?_r=0|access-date=7 May 2018|work=New York Times|date=24 May 2013 }}</ref> and received a master's degree in Music Theory and Composition from New York University. He studied with Paul Alan Levi,<ref name=":2"/> Martin Bresnick,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pfitzinger|first1=Scott|title=Composer Genealogies: A Compendium of Composers, Their Teachers, and Their Students|date=March 1, 2017|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1-4422-7224-8|page=71}}</ref> Michael Gordon, and Julia Wolfe among others.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Delarue|title=An Auspicious Portrait of Emerging Composers Fjola Evans and Alex Weiser|url=https://lucidculture.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/fjola/|website=Lucid Culture|date=5 May 2014 |access-date=7 May 2018}}<br>- {{cite web|last1=Weiser|first1=Alex|title=Biography|url=http://alexweiser.com/bio.html|website=Alex Weiser Official Website|access-date=7 May 2018}}</ref>
==Career== Weiser's debut album, ''and all the days were purple'', was released by Cantaloupe Music in April 2019,<ref>{{cite web|title=Alex Weiser |url=https://cantaloupemusic.com/albums/and-all-days-were-purple |website=Cantaloupe Music |date=March 2019 |access-date=21 April 2019}}</ref> and was named a 2020 Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Music.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 2020 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Music |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/alex-weiser |website=Pulitzer Prize |access-date=17 December 2020}}</ref> The album features singer Eliza Bagg singing songs set to poetry in Yiddish and English by poets including Anna Margolin, Rachel Korn, Abraham Sutzkever, Emily Dickinson, and William Carlos Williams.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Oltuski |first1=Ilona |title=And All The Days Were Purple |url=http://www.sequenza21.com/2019/04/and-all-the-days-were-purple/ |website=Sequenza 21 |access-date=21 April 2019}}</ref> Probing contemporary Jewish identity, the album grew out of Weiser's work as the Director of Public Programs at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Portnoy |first1=Eddy |title=From Alex Weiser, A New Musical Home For Yiddish |url=https://forward.com/culture/421620/from-alex-weiser-a-new-musical-home-for-yiddish/ |access-date=21 April 2019 |publisher=The Forward |date=27 March 2019}}<br>- {{cite web |last1=delarue |title=Alex Weiser Resurrects a Brilliantly Obscure Tradition of Jewish Art-Song |url=https://newyorkmusicdaily.wordpress.com/2019/04/12/alexw/ |website=New York Music Daily |date=12 April 2019 |access-date=21 April 2019}}<br>- {{cite web |last1=Haber |first1=Gordon |title=Jewish But Not Judaic: Alex Weiser's New Album |url=https://labajournal.com/2019/04/jewish-but-not-judaic/ |website=LABA Journal |date=2 April 2019 |access-date=21 April 2019}}<br>- {{cite web |last1=Weiser |first1=Alex |title=A Homecoming to a Jewish World I Never Knew Existed |url=https://www.yivo.org/Purple-Homecoming |publisher=YIVO Institute for Jewish Research|access-date=21 April 2019}}<br>- {{cite web|last1=Pisano|first1=Steven|title="and all the days were purple": Music by Alex Weiser at Roulette|url=http://www.feastofmusic.com/feast_of_music/2017/05/and-all-the-days-were-purple-work-by-alex-weiser-at-roulette.html|website=Feast of Music|access-date=7 May 2018}}</ref>
Weiser's album ''in a dark blue night,'' released by Cantaloupe Music in March 2024,<ref>{{cite web|title=Alex Weiser |url=https://cantaloupemusic.com/albums/in-dark-blue-night |website=Cantaloupe Music |date=March 2024 |access-date=4 April 2024}}</ref> features mezzo-soprano Annie Rosen and explores Jewish immigrant New York City through two song cycles. The first, "in a dark blue night," features five settings of Yiddish poetry written by newly arrived immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s which depict the city at night. The second song cycle, "Coney Island Days," sets to music the recorded memories of Weiser's late grandmother, discussing her childhood in the bustling immigrant world of Coney Island in the 1930s and 40s — days at the beach, at the family's knish store, and at the Russian bath.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.jta.org/2024/03/28/ny/a-jewish-grandmothers-coney-island-memories-inspire-a-new-album-by-her-composer-grandson |title=A Jewish grandmother's Coney Island memories inspire a new album by her composer grandson |date=28 March 2024 |access-date=2024-04-05}}</ref>
Weiser has also written three operas that explore Jewish themes: ''State of the Jews'', which is a historical drama about Theodor Herzl,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Grudo |first1=Gideon |date=11 May 2019 |title=For Some Jews, Yiddish History Is Sanctuary. For Others, It's 'Dangerous.' |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/for-some-jews-yiddish-history-is-sanctuary-for-others-its-dangerous |access-date=13 May 2019 |publisher=The Daily Beast}}<br />- {{cite news |last1=Kutzik |first1=Jordan |date=5 December 2019 |title=New Opera About Theodor Herzl Explores His Complex Nature |url=https://forward.com/yiddish/436012/new-opera-about-theodor-herzl-explores-his-complex-nature/ |access-date=19 January 2020 |publisher=Forward}}- Nechin, Etan (16 February 2025). [https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2025-02-16/ty-article-magazine/.premium/the-first-english-language-opera-about-herzl-contends-with-his-life-and-legacy/00000194-eef7-d168-a3bf-eeffa7220000 "'This Book Will Haunt Us': The First English Language Opera About Herzl Takes on His Life and Legacy"]. Haaretz. Retrieved 17 April 2025.</ref> ''The Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language'', a chamber opera about Yudel Mark, Max Weinreich, and the famous unfinished multi-volume Yiddish dictionary,<ref>{{cite news|title=Episode 0310: The Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language |url=https://soundcloud.com/yiddishbookcenter/episode-0310-the-great-dictionary-of-the-yiddish-language |access-date=24 September 2023 |publisher=The Yiddish Book Center |date=28 October 2021}}<br>- {{cite news |last1=Soloski |first1=Alexis|title="Every Word Deserves To Be Remembered": How An Unfinished Dictionary Inspired An Opera |publisher=Pakn Treger |date= July 2023}}<br>- {{cite news |last1=Dynes |first1=Ofer|title=In The Great Dictionary of Yiddish Language, the dictionary dazzles|url=https://ingeveb.org/blog/the-great-dictionary-of-yiddish-language |access-date=5 April 2025|publisher=In Geveb |date= July 25, 2024}} </ref> and ''Tevye's Daughters'', an opera based on the Sholem Aleichem story ''Shprintse''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Public Events |url=https://www.altnyc.org/public-events |access-date=24 September 2023}}<br />- {{cite news |last1=Kafrissen |first1=Rokhl |date=December 15, 2023 |title=Tevye’s Forgotten Daughter |url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/tevye-forgotten-daughter-opera-tkhines |access-date=5 April 2025 |publisher=Tablet Magazine}}
- Rhodes, Jennifer (13 January, 2025). [https://ingeveb.org/blog/interview-with-alex-weiser “I’d like to think that it’s all my canvas” - an interview with Alex Weiser]. In Geveb. Retrieved 17 April 2025. </ref>
Other works exploring Jewish themes include Weiser's ''Tfiles'' Clarinet Concerto commissioned by the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews for Andrzej Cieplinski and the Polish Radio Orchestra which draws inspiration from poetry by Kadia Molodowsky,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Szwarcman |first1=Dorota |title=Muzyka łagodna i refleksyjna |url=https://szwarcman.blog.polityka.pl/2024/02/24/muzyka-lagodna-i-refleksyjna/ |access-date=5 April 2025 |publisher=Polityka |date=24 February 2024}}</ref> and ''after shir hashirim'' for chamber orchestra which takes its inspiration from the biblical Song of Songs.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cantata Profana Performs Gustav Mahler's Das Lied Von Der Erde - Concert Program|url=https://yivo.org/cimages/11-30-17_program.pdf|publisher=YIVO Institute for Jewish Research|access-date=8 May 2018}}</ref>
Common themes in Weiser's work also include death and transience as exemplified by his work ''Three Epitaphs''.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Kriegeskotte|first1=Christian|title=Kettle Corn New Music Closes 4th Season with Epitaphs and Fairytales|url=https://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2016/06/kettle-corn-new-music-closes-4th-season-with-epitaphs-and-fairytales/|website=I Care If You Listen|date=14 June 2016 |access-date=8 May 2018}}</ref> Other major works have included ''shimmer'' for eight spatially arrayed cellos written for and recorded by Ashley Bathgate as a companion piece to Steve Reich's ''Cello Counterpoint'',<ref>{{cite news|last1=da Fonesca-Wollheim|first1=Corinna|title=Cellist in an Echo Chamber, Echo Chamber|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/22/arts/music/cellist-in-an-echo-chamber-echo-chamber.html?_r=0|access-date=8 May 2018|work=New York Times|date=22 June 2017}}<br>- {{cite web|last1=Andrews|first1=Matthew Neil|title=Spontaneous Combustion reviews 2: sublime solos, dynamic duo|url=http://www.orartswatch.org/spontaneous-combustion-reviews-2-sublime-solos-dynamic-duo/|website=Oregon Arts Watch|publisher=ArtsWatch|access-date=8 May 2018}}</ref> and ''water hollows stone'' for piano four hands, written for HOCKET.
In addition to his work as a composer and at YIVO, Weiser is co-founder and artistic director of Kettle Corn New Music,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Allen|first1=David|title=Review: Lisa Moore at DiMenna Center|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/09/arts/music/review-lisa-moore-at-dimenna-center.html|access-date=7 May 2018|work=The New York Times|date=8 June 2015}}<br>- {{cite web|last1=Meyer|first1=Jack|title=Kettle Corn Pops at The DiMenna Center|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jack-meyer/kettle-corn-pops-at-the-d_b_5446193.html|website=The Huffington Post|date=4 June 2014 |access-date=7 May 2018}}</ref> and worked for about five years as the Director of Operations and Development at the MATA Festival.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Oteri|first1=Frank|title=MATA at 20|url=https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/mata-at-20/|website=New Music Box|date=9 April 2018 |publisher=New Music USA|access-date=7 May 2018}}<br>- {{cite magazine |last1=Smith |first1=Steve |title=Recitals: Alex Weiser |url=https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/classical-music/alex-weiser |access-date=8 June 2019 |magazine=The New Yorker |date=10 June 2019}}</ref> Weiser is also active as a writer of prose on music, culture, and Jewish history. His articles have appeared in various outlets including Smithsonian Folklife Magazine, Jewish Renaissance, New Music Box, Tablet Magazine, and In Geveb.<ref>https://www.alexweiser.com/writings</ref>
==Discography== * ''[https://cantaloupemusic.com/albums/and-all-days-were-purple and all the days were purple]'' (Cantaloupe Music, 2019) * ''[https://www.brightshiny.ninja/water-hollows-stone water hollows stone]'' (Bright Shiny Things, 2022) * ''[https://cantaloupemusic.com/albums/in-dark-blue-night in a dark blue night]'' (Cantaloupe Music, 2024)
'''Featured on''' * HOCKET: ''[https://hocket.bandcamp.com/album/what2020soundslike-2 #what2020soundslike]'' (2022) * Ashley Bathgate: ''[https://www.newfocusrecordings.com/catalogue/ashley-bathgate-8-track/ 8-Track]'' (New Focus Recordings, 2023) * Vertex: ''[https://www.navonarecords.com/catalog/nv6642/ joy, too]'' (Navona Records, 2024)
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://cantaloupemusic.com/artists/alex-weiser Artist Page, Cantaloupe Music]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiser, Alex}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Composers from New York City Category:Living people Category:Stuyvesant High School alumni Category:Yale University alumni Category:Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development alumni Category:American male opera composers Category:21st-century American composers Category:American classical composers Category:American opera composers Category:Jewish American classical composers Category:Jewish opera composers Category:21st-century American Jews Category:21st-century American male composers