Biography
Alexander Johnson is a composer, conductor, ensemble vocalist, and music educator based in Portland, OR. He enjoys composing for a variety of musical media, including vocal ensembles, chamber ensembles, symphony and chamber orchestras, instrumental and vocal jazz, and soloists. Alex has had his music premiered by the University of Texas New Music Ensemble, Inversion Ensemble, the American Creators Chorus at the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium (Craig Hella Johnson, director), Estelí Gomez (of Roomful of Teeth), the Sospiro Vocal Ensemble, and various vocal and instrumental ensembles at his alma mater, Lawrence University.
As a singer, Alex has performed with many professional and collegiate vocal ensembles across the country; while in Austin, TX, he performed with Inversion Ensemble (a chorus that exclusively performs new music), Ars Longa, Austin Baroque Orchestra, and Austin Cantorum. From 2012-2014, he sang with the award-winning University of Oregon Chamber Choir (Sharon Paul, director), which won the Fleischmann International Trophy Competition at the Cork International Choral Festival in May 2013. He has also performed at the Oregon Bach Festival during the 2013, 2014, and 2015 seasons under the batons of Helmuth Rilling, Matthew Halls, and Craig Hella Johnson. During his time in Oregon, Alex also performed with early vocal music ensemble Vox Resonat. From 2008-2012, he sang with the Lawrence University Concert Choir, which performed at the 2009 American Choral Directors Association National Convention in Oklahoma City.
Before moving back to Oregon in Summer 2021, Alex taught composition, theory, and aural skills at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. He previously taught undergraduate ear training at the University of Texas at Austin and beginning music theory to elementary, middle, and high school students with the Austin Chamber Music Center. He also maintained composition studios while living in Austin, TX and Eugene, OR. He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master’s in Music Composition from the University of Oregon, and a Bachelor’s of Music in Theory and Composition with an Emphasis in Jazz from Lawrence University. Alex has music published with National Music Publishers.
