Alexandra du Bois (b.1981) discovered music through the violin, playing the instrument from the age of two years old and later began composing at age fifteen. Still in her early twenties, Alexandra du Bois' compositions have already been performed throughout the United States, France, The Netherlands, Argentina, New Zealand, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Australia, Canada, Armenia, and the United Kingdom at venues ranging from the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, to Barbican Hall in London, to The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, to New York's Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Bargemusic and and Tribeca New Music Festival. Alexandra du Bois' music has been featured on radio programs including BBC Radio 3, Danish Radio, ABC Radio Australia, Radio New Zealand, Chicago Public Radio, and NPR's Morning Edition.
During the fiftieth anniversary season of the Beaux Arts Trio in 2004-5, pianist Menahem Pressler commissioned Alexandra du Bois’ first piano trio for the Beaux Arts Trio. The Beaux Arts Trio then premiered the new work at The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam followed by consecutive performances in Groningen, and Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The Felici Trio then presented the US premiere in California in 2006.
In 2003, Alexandra du Bois was chosen out of over 300 composers from 32 countries as the inaugural recipient of the Kronos: Under 30 Project commission. As a result, du Bois wrote String Quartet: Oculus pro oculo totum orbem terrae caecat for the Kronos Quartet which Kronos Quartet has since performed dozens of times throughout the US and World. Alexandra du Bois was recently Composer-in-Residence with Kronos at Carnegie Hall through the Weill Institute’s Professional Training Workshop, Kronos: Signature Works, where she coached several young string quartets for a performance of one of her string quartets.
Alexandra du Bois has since received two more commissions from Kronos Quartet including her third string quartet: Night Songs (Nachtliederen) inspired by the life and writing of Etty Hillesum, which received its premiere alongside the premiere of Henryk Gorceki's third string quartet, at Carnegie Hall. Alexandra du Bois was inspired by the life, journals and letters of the young Dutch writer Etty Hillesum (1914-1943), and after reading Hillesum’s published journals and letters several times, du Bois received with a grant from the Netherland-America Foundation to retrace the footsteps of Etty Hillesum in Amsterdam, Deventer, and Kamp Westerbork in the Netherlands, and ultimately Auschwitz in Poland to receive creative insight for the thirty-minute string quartet. Kronos Quartet premiered Night Songs at Stanford University and Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in 2006 and has since performed the work six times.
Upcoming premieres include a solo work for cellist Wendy Sutter, a chamber work for British violinist Daniel Hope commissioned with the Savannah Music Festival, a symphonic work for the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra commissioned by conductor Randall Fleisher through Musica Nova for the ASO's 2008-9 season, and a choral work commissioned by Present Music in Milwaukee for Women’s Choir and Children’s Choir. Alexandra du Bois is also in the process of working with several New York filmmakers on their upcoming films.
Alexandra du Bois has received numerous grants and awards including those from the BMI Foundation, the Netherland-America Foundation, Indiana University, the Juilliard School and the University of Massachusetts at Boston. She has been Composer-in-Residence at Dartmouth College, the Mammoth Lakes Music Festival, Merkin Concert Hall’s Zoom: Composers Up Close Series, and Carnegie Hall, through Kronos Quartet’s Professional Training Workshop Kronos: Signature Works. Alexandra du Bois’ music has been commissioned by ensembles such as the Kronos Quartet, Bargemusic, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, The Beaux Arts Trio, Merkin Concert Hall, The Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, Present Music with the Milwaukee Choral Artists and the Milwaukee Children's Choir, The Piano Project at the Kaufman Center in New York, the Savannah Music Festival, Bang on a Can Festival, Duo Diez, Azure Ensemble, the Chorus and Chamber Singers at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, MAYA, as well as musicians including Daniel Hope, Menahem Pressler, Wendy Sutter, Sato Moughalian, Mary Rowell, DaXun Zhang, and many others.
Alexandra du Bois holds a Master's Degree from the Juilliard School and a Bachelor's Degree from Indiana University's Jacob's School of Music. She was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she studied at the University of Massachusetts-Boston and the Longy School of Music during her high school years. Her teachers in Composition have been Sven-David Sandström, Christopher Rouse, Claude Baker, Don Freund, Osvaldo Golijov, Howard Frazin, David Patterson, Philip Lasser and Edward Bilous. Her teachers in violin include Suzanne Schreck, Peter Haase, Stephen Shipps, David Salness, Lynn Chang, Sophie Vilker, Henryk Kowalski, and Federico Agostini. Alexandra du Bois has lived in New York City since 2005 and is a member of BMI.
All works published exclusively by Arbor Mundi Music Publishers. For inquiries into purchasing scores and parts, send an email to: music(at)arbormundimusic(dot)com.
ALEXANDRA DU BOIS
Check out MAYA's new album In The Spirit which features an original arrangement by Alexandra du Bois
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