Short Bio

Alexander Wu is a composer, pianist, electronic producer, improviser, and programmer based in Baltimore, MD. He is interested in the relationships within sound, the interplay between sound and society, as well as the connections among those who create it. His work often draws inspiration from noise, the physicality of sound, and the translation between mediums, languages, and cultures. After graduating summa cum laude from Berklee College of Music with a bachelor’s degree in Composition and Electronic Production and Design in 2023, Alexander is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Composition at the Peabody Institute.

Long Bio

Alexander Wu is a composer, pianist, electronic producer, improviser, and programmer based in Baltimore, MD. He is interested in the relationships within sound, the interplay between sound and society, as well as the connections among those who create it. His work often draws inspiration from noise, the physicality of sound, and the translation between mediums, languages, and cultures.

Alexander is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Composition at the Peabody Institute. In 2023, he graduated summa cum laude from Berklee College of Music, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in both Composition and Electronic Production and Design, with a minor in Creative Coding. During his time at Berklee, he received prestigious awards such as the Jeronimas Kačinskas Composition Award (2023), Max Matthews Computer Music Award (2023), Millican Endowed Scholarship (2023), and Earle Brown Composition Award (2022). His composition mentors at Berklee included Beth Denisch, Gabriele Vanoni, and Marti Epstein. He also had the privilege of attending masterclasses with esteemed composers such as Chaya Czernowin, Alexandra du Bois, Du Yun, Evan Johnson, Julia Wolfe, and Chen Yi. His compositions have been performed and recorded by distinguished ensembles including SPLICE Ensemble, Mivos Quartet, loadbang, unassisted fold, and cellist Ariel Barnes. In recent years, he has participated in Zodiac Music Festival, highSCORE Festival, and Longy’s Divergent Studio.

An eclectic performer of classical and jazz piano music, Alexander has performed at venues such as the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and received the Berklee World Tour Scholarship and Performance Division Piano Award. In addition to the acoustic piano, Alexander plays the microtonal keyboard (usually with two manuals tuned differently), and he has performed with David Fiuczynski’s Microtonal Grooves Ensemble. For electronic sets, he typically uses a combination of grid controllers, modular synthesizers, and live coding.

Alexander has also incorporated programming into his creative practice. He is well-versed in general-purpose languages such as C, C#, Python, Swift, and JavaScript, as well as languages designed for music and multimedia, including Max/MSP/Jitter/Gen, SuperCollider, and TouchDesigner. Notable recent projects include jingle bach, an audiovisual installation generated from YouTube commercials; ectone, a web-based microtonal ear training tool; and VariTuner, a microtonal tuner and tone generator app for iOS devices, featuring a built-in library of over 5000 microtonal scales. As a member of Berklee’s Interdisciplinary Arts Institute, he has exhibited his interactive media works at Berklee and the Bleep Blorp Festival of Synthesis and Electronic Music.

From 2021 to 2023, Alexander served as President of Society of Composers at Berklee, a student-led organization committed to cultivating a supportive community for composers to share knowledge and foster personal development. Leading the club, he produced six concerts that highlighted the exceptional skills of fellow student composers and performers. He also conducted a number of interviews with renowned guests working in the field.

Alexander was born in 2000 and grew up in Lishui, China. In his spare time, he enjoys reading and making software, beats, and food.