Alexandra Gardner | Building Noises

Above are a few pages of sketches and notes from the making of Mint Conditioner for double bass and electronics – signed, sealed and delivered (several weeks ago) to exceedingly awesome bassist Logan Coale. True to the title, this piece starts out a tangled ball of knots, and by the end rinses out smooth and [...]

Shortly after I had completed my piece Tourmaline for saxophone and computer sound, I showed a recording engineer buddy the Pro Tools session that contained all the recorded elements, along with the score, and explained how the recorded part is represented in the score, how the performer plays along, and how if all goes as [...]

Updates are rolling in backwards! Chronological time is overrated… I wanted to alert you to some videos from last month’s concert in Baltimore. The combination of fantastic performances, an enthusiastic, open-eared audience, and a venue that has really good feng shui (Baltimore people, if you haven’t been to The Metro Gallery, you must stop in [...]

This holiday season I am feeling positively festive! Hmmmm, I wonder why. Do you think this sort of thing could be the cause? Maybe compounded by this joyful event? Oh wait! I know what else it is! I CAN GET HITCHED NOW!!! Okay, almost. Still exciting! Whatever the reason, it’s kinda nice to revel in [...]

Cornelius Dufallo is a wonderful violinist and composer, as well as one of the biggest champions of new music around. I first heard him perform his music a couple years ago on the concert series Music With a View, and I was struck by the combination of intensity and patience in that beautiful, slowly unfolding [...]

Well, it’s official. My brain has automatically switched into archetypal back-to-school mode. I am craving fresh notebooks and new shoes. ******* To be honest I haven’t been feeling very talkative lately, so I’ve been keeping things on this side of the firewall. During July and August I took a break from composing to focus on [...]

This post is horribly late, given that these events happened last week, which is now officially last month, but better late than never, right? First of all, there was an amazing concert in Seattle! This was one of the very best premieres of a new work that I have ever experienced. Sometimes I am so [...]

One of the things I adore about the Baltimore Contemporary Museum’s Mobtown Modern concert series is how much thought and creativity directors Brian Sacawa and Erik Spangler put into the themes of the concerts. Of course there is a thread weaving the pieces on the program together, but what makes the concerts extra special are [...]

Hi Everyone! It’s nice to be finished with another round of Composer Lockdown and out in the sunlight! I’ve just posted the recording of Bloom that Joshua and I made in the recording studio last month. We had so much fun. Enjoy!

For your reading pleasure! There are now program notes on the website for Banyan, for orchestra, and Bloom for cello and boombox. Stand by for recordings too! Last Monday Joshua Roman premiered Bloom at The Flea Theater in NYC to a big, wonderfully responsive audience. I couldn’t be happier about the performance! Even though it [...]