Download Alexander Prior Biography July 5th 2013

Alexander Prior
Conductor and Composer
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Kreiszeitung Bremen: "Prior succeeds to interpret the delicate complexity and nuanced shades in a transparent, thoughtful and at the same time very present way". Pforzheimer Zeitung: “Alexander Prior was the crowning highlight of the concert. He brought out passion and great contrasts (in the Mozart Jupiter Symphony)… (the orchestra) was full of sensibility and the andante unfolded with great emotion. One could not escape the brilliant firework of Alexander’s performance.” •
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The Las Vegas Review-­‐Journal: “Prior's movements seemed to will the sun to rise… Prior and the musicians gave it a wild life, from infectiously toe-­‐tapping to explosive…” The Berkshire Living Magazine (USA): “Prior is on the express track for a potentially meteoric rise… Unlike many conductors, he avoided the trap of sentimentalizing the love music and, near the end, he drew an amazing organ-­‐like sonority out of the winds during the entombment and death scene… drawing out all the febrile intensity in the score” “…(the Strauß) was conducted with wit and panache” The Boston Musical Intelligencer: "The light lifting of (Strauss’s Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme) was addressed with brio and humor, and the orchestra and crowd loved him!... Prior brought forth in the gracious “Entrance of Cleonte” an unusual hymn-­‐like string ensemble…(In the Finale) Prior’s conducting accurately and expressively characterized the stiff formalities, martial posturing, and churlish children, cooking up a mouth-­‐watering array of savories...." Alexander Prior, born in London in October 1992, achieved remarkable success at an early age
as a prodigiously gifted composer and conductor. He graduated from the St Petersburg State
Conservatory in 2009 at just the age of 17, earning distinctions in master’s degrees respectively in
composition (studying with Professors Boris Tischenko and Anatoly Korolyov), and opera and
symphonic conducting (with Professor Alexander Alexeev).
His profile in Britain, established following his UK conducting debut at the Barbican Centre with
the National Symphony Orchestra in 2007, was boosted two years later when Channel 4 televised
a documentary about his life and work. At the age of sixteen
Prior was named as runner-up at the 2009 Leeds International Conducting Competition; he also
secured second prize in the composition category of the International Prokofiev Competition in St
Petersburg for his Second Piano Concerto ‘Dances of the North’.
Next season sees Prior making numerous international debuts. These include his Canadian debut
with The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, his Austrian Debut with The Vienna Chamber
orchestra, his Finnish debut in Oulu with the Oulu Sinfonia, his Macedonian debut with the
Macedonian Philharmonic, his debut with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Oper-Leipzig,
several other major operatic guest conducting engagements, as well as returning to almost all the
orchestras he has worked with in the past few seasons, and making other debuts. He will lead the
Norwegian National Youth Symphony in the summer of 2013. He will also debut with leading
German orchestras such as the Dusseldorf Symphoniker, the WDR Symphony Cologne, and the
Thungrian Philharmonic Gotha.
In addition to making significant guest conducting debuts with, among others, the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra, the New World Symphony, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (for the
world premiere of his 6th symphony), the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and the Northern
Sinfonia, Prior’s rapidly evolving career has been marked by its high number of return invitations
and close relationships including with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, The Tivoli Symphony
Orchestra/Festival, The Royal Danish Opera and Ballet (Det Kongelige Teater) where amongst
other things in Spring 2013 he conducted Bizet’s “Carmen”, and Die
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen who included his performance of Vaughan Williams’s
symphony no.5 on their Year’s Highlights CD, and whom together with their recordings have
been broadcast all over Europe, including recently on BBC Radio 3, to name a few. His profile in
Scandinavia has been built on close relationships with orchestras, and a strong commitment to
outreach and young-persons work; collaborating with many groups and artists to promote music
to many different regions and parts of society. For Alexander, building close human as well as
musical bridges is central to his attitude towards music making.
The record of Prior’s recent progress underlines the quality of his work and the authority of
his musicianship. He was appointed as Chairman’s Fellow Assistant Conductor to the Seattle
Symphony Orchestra for the 2009/10 season, where he worked closely with such guest
conductors as Thomas Dausgaard, Andrew Manze, Ludovic Morlot, Robert Spano, James
Gaffigan and Vassily Sinaisky. He also led the orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony
No.4 and conducted a range of education and outreach concerts.
He then went on to attend Tanglewood where he was awarded the James Levine Fellowship,
conducting programmes of Strauss and Tchaikovsky alongside Michael Tilson Thomas, Oliver
Knussen, Herbert Blomstedt and Robert Spano. He went on to assist Nicholas McGegen and
Rafael Frubeck de Burgos at the Los Angeles Philharmonic later that season. He was also a
conducting fellow at The Aspen Music Festival in the Summer of 2013. Alexander Prior was
appointed Principal Conductor for Seattle’s Northwest Mahler Festival in 2011.
Alexander develops close relationships with, among others, mentors Thomas Dausgaard, Michael
Tilson Thomas, and Robert Spano, and constantly strives to perfect and expand his art, technique,
and knowledge, as well as mentoring and engaging in teaching masterclasses himself. This
constant stream and sharing of knowledge based on mutual admiration and respect is crucial to
his view of the musical world, and collaboration between colleagues.
Additionally Alexander later studied composition with the highly respected Danish Composers
Hans Abrahamsen and Bent Sørensen. Alexander’s compositional style has a strong, unique, and
distinct voice that can range from the absurdist and totally atonal to many highly lyrical and
melodic passages. It’s unifying elements can be found in his strong interest in exploring the
widest possible range of human feelings, traditions, and though patterns, as well as a linguistic
unity that comes from the unique and vast array of influences and experiences of Alexander’s
life: from English renaissance and traditional music, to a huge interest in American minimalism
which grew during his time living on the west coast; a personal passion and admiration for
languages and comparative linguistics; an active interest in Jazz and Rock music; many formative
teenage years spent in Russia steeped in ancient folklore and liturgical music, an enormous
interest in folklore of many regions ranging from Gamalan, Corsican, Georgian, Balkan,
American First-nations etc. vocal music and perhaps above all the vocal and instrumental music
of the very North of Europe: Norwegian, Sami, Celtic, Finnish traditions; a conductor’s education
in many ways focussed on German, Czech, Italian, Russian, French, and other classical European
traditions; as well as perhaps his most central influence: the Nordic compositional schools of the
last 150 years. All of this is interpreted through a vastly multicultural lense, and above all is
music that aims to be both of it’s time and of his generation, and also built upon the great
traditions of the past.
Alexander Prior’s catalogue of compositions is substantial in size and rich in its share of highprofile commissions. His ballet Mowgli, commissioned by the Moscow State Ballet and first
performed at the Kremlin Theatre in 2008, secured international critical acclaim for its young
composer. Other landmark works include ‘Distant Calls’ for voice and piano quintet, Elegy in
memory of Ligeti for cello and piano (one of his most performed works), Horizons: An American
Crescendo for four soloists and orchestra (2010), premiered by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
under its composer’s direction at the Barbican Centre; Symphony No.4 ‘Gogol’ (2009-10),
commissioned by the cultural committee of St Petersburg for the St Petersburg State Academic
Symphony Orchestra and Choir, and his Triple Concerto ‘That which must remain unspoken’
for piano, violin and cello (2011), written for the Hong Kong City Chamber Orchestra. In March
2012 The Dallas Symphony premiered his 6th Symphony, commissioned especially for that
orchestra and concert.
In recognition of his contribution to the music and charitable work to connect young and
disadvantaged people with the arts, Alexander Prior was appointed to the Russian Order of the
Blue Cross in 2005. He has also received the Patriarch of Russia's Cultural Award for his services
to the arts.
Despite having only just reached adulthood, Alexander was recently awarded the Blue Cross
Order for his work in bringing music to disadvantaged children. He has also received the
Patriarch of Russia's Cultural Award for his services to the arts.