Chen Yi (陈怡; b. Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, April 4, 1953) is a Chinese composer of contemporary classical music. She was the first Chinese woman to receive a Master of Arts (M.A.) in music composition from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She is also a violinist.

Chen grew up in Guangzhou, China, into a talented family. Her parents were doctors and musicians; her mother played the piano, and her father the violin. Her older sister was a child prodigy, and even today Chen's older sister and younger brother work as professional musicians in China.

Chen began studying piano at the age of three, studying the music of Western composers such as Bach and Mozart. However, once the Cultural Revolution began in 1966, Western influences were severely shunned and the arts were attacked. For ten years, education came to a halt and people were relocated to work in large communes in countryside. Chen's father and older sister were the first to be sent away, but Chen managed to hide in her hometown a while longer, and continued to practice music, but with some impediments: she was forced to stuff a blanket inside her piano in order to dampen the sound, and play her violin with a mute. At age fifteen, she could hide no more. Her house was searched, her possessions were taken, and the rest of her family was dispersed to different locations to perform compulsory labor in the countryside.

Chen used her time spent laboring in the countryside to learn and appreciate the Chinese folk culture. Her connection with Chinese music would prove a useful tool in finding her own voice for her musical compositions in later life. At age seventeen, she returned to Guangzhou and began working as concertmaster in the orchestra of the Beijing Opera Troupe in Guangzhou.

Chen lived for many years in New York City, and studied composition with Chou Wen-chung and Mario Davidovsky at Columbia University, earning a DMA with distinction. Her husband is the composer Zhou Long. As of 2006, both Chen and Zhou are professors of composition at the University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance.

Alongside a great number of orchestral works, Chen has also made many contributions to the choral repertoire and the chamber music repertoire, including works written for traditional Chinese instruments.

Chen's works are published by the Theodore Presser Company.

ANCIENT　BEAUTY，THE(2006) (2 mvts, 10')
Dizi, Xun, Erhu, Pipa, Zheng & String Orchestra
ANCIENT DANCES (2005) (3 mvts, 18')
Pipa and Percussion

…AS LIKE A RAGING FIRE… (2002) (10')
Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Piano.

ARIRANG (1994) (3').
Mixed Chorus

AS IN A DREAM (1988) (7')
Soprano, Violin, Cello Alternate version for Soprano, Pipa, Zheng

AT THE KANSAS CITY CHINESE NEW YEAR CONCERT (2002) (3 mvts, 12')
String Quartet

BA BAN (1999) (8')
Piano Solo

BA YIN (2001) (20')
Saxophone quartet with string orchestra

BALLAD, DANCE AND FANTASY (2003) (3 mvts, 27')
Cello, 3333, 4331, Hp, 3 Perc. Str.

BIRTHDAY GREETING FOR AR, DRD, PRISM, SCP (2004) (1' each)
3 instruments, One Piano Four-hands, Saxophone Quartet, Chamber Ensemble

BRIGHT MOONLIGHT (2001) (5')
Mezzo-soprano, Piano

BURNING (2002) (4')
String Quartet

CARAMOOR'S SUMMER (2003) (13')
2(1 Picc.)-2-2-2; 2-1-1-0; Hp., 3Perc., Str.

CELEBRATION (2005) (5')
2222, 2221, T 2 Perc. Str.

CHINA WEST SUITE (2007) (4 mvts, 10 minutes)
Two Pianos

CHINESE ANCIENT DANCES (2004) (2 mvts, 8')
Clarinet, Piano.

CHINESE FABLES (2002) (3 mvts, 13')
Erhu, Pipa, Cello, Percussion

CHINESE FOLK DANCE SUITE (2001) (3 mvts, 22')
2222, 4330, 3 Perc, Violin Solo, Str.

CHINESE MOUNTAIN SONGS (2001) (5 songs, 10')
Treble Chorus

CHINESE MYTHS CANTATA (1996) (3 mvts, 36')
2(Picc)22(Eb&Bcl)2(C) 4230 4 Perc Erhu Pipa Yangqin Zheng, Male Chorus, Str

CHINESE POEMS (1999) (5 mvts, 10')
Six Girls’ Choruses

DUNHUANG FANTASY (1999) (12')
1121 1110 P, Organ

DUO YE (1984) (6')
Piano Solo Alternate version for Pipa Solo

DUO YE for chamber orchestra (1985) (7')
112(Eb)1 1000 P, Str

DUO YE No. 2 for full orchestra (1987) (8')
3(2 Picc)3(EH)3(Bcl)3(Cbsn) 4331 T, P(3), Str

ELEANOR'S GIFT (1998) (15')
Cello Solo, 2222, 2220, 3 Perc, Hp, Str. Pn Reduction with percussion, Score and Parts.

FENG (1998) (Introduction & Rondo, 10')
Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, French Horn

FIDDLE SUITE (1997) (3 mvts, 16')
Chinese Huqin Solo, String Quartet/Str Orch/Full Orchestra

FISHERMAN'S SONG (1979) (4')
Violin and Piano

GE XU (ANTIPHONY) (1994) (10')
2(Picc)2(E.H.)2(Bcl)2 4230 Hp, T, P(2), Str

GOLDEN FLUTE, THE (1997) (3 mvts, 18')
Flute Solo, 2222, 4230, T P(2), Str.

GUESSING (1989) (5')
Piano Solo

HAN FIGURINES, THE (2006) (5')
Violin, Clarinet, Tenor Saxophone, Double Bass, Piano & Percussion.

HAPPY RAIN IN SPRING NIGHT (2004) (12')
Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Piano.

JI-DONG-NUO for piano solo (2005) (4')
JOY OF THE REUNION for oboe, viola, cello and double bass (2001) (4')
KC CAPRICCIO for wind ensemble & mixed choir (2000) (4')
2222(+b.cl) 3sax 34311 SATB 3P Alt version CAPRICCIO for Chorus, Organ & Percussion (2001)

KNOW YOU HOW MANY PETALS FALLING (2001) (4'
Mixed Chorus [312-41814], $1.60

LAMENT OF THE TWIN STARTS (1996) (5')
Mixed Chorus

LANDSCAPE (2003) (3')
Mixed Chorus

LINEAR, THE (1994) (12')
2(Picc)222 4331 Hp. T, P(4), Str

LOOKING AT THE SEA (2006) (4'30")
Women's Choir

MEDITATION (1999) (two songs, 6')
Mezzo-soprano and Piano

MOMENTUM 3(1998) (10')
333 4331 Hp. 4 Perc. Str

MONOLOGUE (IMPRESSIONS ON THE TRUE STORY OF AH Q ) (1993) (5')
Clarinet Solo (Bb)

NEAR DISTANCE (1988) (10')
Fl(Alto Fl), Cl(Bcl), Vn, Vc, Pf, Perc

NIGHT THOUGHTS (2004) (8')
Flute, Cello, Piano

NING (2001) (15')
Violin, Pipa, Cello.

OVERTURE (1989) (13')
Chinese Instrumental Orchestra

OVERTURE No.2 (1990) (15')
Chinese Instrumental Orchestra

PERCUSSION CONCERTO (1998) (3 mvts, 20')
Percussion Solo, 3(1Picc)33(1Bcl)3(1D.Bsn), 4331, 3 Perc., Strings Alt.version for Percussion and Piano/Percussion Group/Perc & Str Quartet

PIANO CONCERTO (1992) (16')
Piano Solo, 3(3 Picc)3(EH)3(Bcl)3(Cbsn) 4331 T, P(3), Str.

PIPA RHYME (1993) (6')
Pipa and 14 Players

POINTS, THE (1991) (9')
Pipa Solo

QI (1997) (10')
Fl, Cello, Percussion, Piano

ROMANCE AND DANCE for String Orchestra (1998) [2 mvts, 9'].
Alt.version for Violin and Piano (2001)

ROMANCE OF HSIAO AND CH'IN (1995) (4')
Two Violins and String Orchestra Alt version for Cello and Piano (2001)

SAKURA (1994) (1')
Mixed Chorus

SET OF CHINESE FOLK SONGS, A (1994) (10 songs, 17')
Unaccompanied Mixed Chorus, with optional Piano part Alt. version for Children's Chorus and Str.Orch./Quintet (25') Alternate version for Unaccompanied Male Choir (TTBB)

SHADY GROVE (2001) (4')
Mixed Chorus

SHUO (1994) (8')
String Orchestra; Alternate version for String Quintet

SI JI (FOUR SEASONS) (2005) (15')
3(+Picc)3(+EH)3(+b.Cl)3(+C.Bsn) 4331 Timp 4 Perc Hp Str

SINGING IN THE MOUNTAIN (2002) (1')
Piano Solo for children

SMALL BEIJING GONG (1993) (1')
Piano Solo for children

SONG IN WINTER (1993) (8')
Harpsichord, Di, Zheng Alternate version for Flute, Zheng, Piano, Percussion Alternate version, ORIENT AND OCCIDENT, for Soprano, Zheng & Piano

SONG OF THE GREAT WALL arr. from a song by Liu Xue-An (1999) (5')
Eight French Horns

SOUND OF THE FIVE (1998) (4 mvt, 20')
Cello Solo, String Quartet Alternate version for Perc Solo & Str Quartet

SPARKLE (1992) (11')
Fl(Picc.), Cl(Eb), Perc 2, Pf, Vn, Vc, Bass

SPRING DREAMS (1997) (5')
Mixed Chorus

SPRING FESTIVAL (1999) (5')
SPRING IN DRESDEN, Concerto for Violin Orchestra (2005) (14')
2(Picc)222, 4231, Hp, T, P(2), Violin Solo, Str

SPROUT (Budding / Meng) (1986) (7')
String Orchestra

STRING QUARTET (1982) (3 mvts, 23')
Vn(2), Va, Vc

SUITE (1991) (3 mvts, 12')
Traditional Chinese Instrumental Ensemble

SUITE FOR CELLO & CHEMBER WINDS (2004) (4 mvt, 20')
1111 1110 P, Cello (Adapted from SOUND OF THE FIVE)

SUITE FROM CHINA WEST (2007) (4 mvts, 10')
Wind Symphony

SYMPHONY No. 1 (1986) (23')
3(Picc)2(EH)3(Bcl)2 4331 T, P(4), Str

SYMPHONY No. 2 (1993) (18')
33(EH)3(Bcl)3(Cbsn) 4331 Hp, T, P(3), Str

SYMPHONY No. 3 (2004) (3 mvts. 23')
33(EH)3(Bcl)3(Cbsn) 4331 Hp, T, P(3), Str

TANG POEMS for Male Choir (1995) (4 songs, 12')
Male Choir / Mixed Choir

TANG POEMS CANTATA (1995) (4 mvts, 15')
Mixed Chorus (SATB) and Chamber Orchestra (1111 1110 Pn T, Perc. Str.)

THREE BAGATELLES FROM CHINA WEST (2006) (3 mvts, 10')
Flute and Piano, or 2 Flutes, or Guanzi and Sheng

THREE POEMS FROM THE SONG DYNASTY (1985) (3 songs, 14')
Mixed Chorus

TIBETAN TUNES (2007) (2 mvts, 10')
Violin, Cello and Piano

TIDE, THE (1988) (10')
Traditional Chinese Instrumental Ensemble

TO THE NEW MILLENNIUM (2001) (3 mvts. 10')
Mixed Chorus Soprano and Mezzo-soprano(2002)

TU (2002) (13')
TWO CHINESE FOLK SONGS for Mixed Chorus (2003) (6')
A HORSEHERD'S MOUNTAIN SONG [312-41832]
A SINGLE BAMBOO CAN EASILY BEND [312-41833]
TWO SETS OF WIND & PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS (1986) (10')
WEST LAKE, THE (2003) (5')
Mixed Chorus

WOODWIND QUINTET (1987) (9')
WU YU (2002) (2 mvts. 14')
Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon, Violin, Cello, Percussion Alt. version for Fl, Ob, Cl, Vln, Vla, VC and CB

Viola Concerto "XIAN SHI" (1983) (14')
Va Solo, 2(Picc)222 4320 T, P(2), Str

XIE ZI for 2 Di, Sheng, Liuqin, Zheng, Sanxian (1985) (5')
XUAN (2001) (3')
Mixed Chorus

YANGKO (2005) (5')
Violin, 2 Percussionists (Adapted from the 2nd Mvt of Chinese Folk Dance Suite)

YU DIAO (1985) (2')
Piano Solo for children

Beata Moon (b. 1969, North Dakota) is an acclaimed classical pianist and composer, raised in Indiana, making her debut at age 8 with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. She trained as a pianist at the Juilliard School (Bachelor's and Master's degrees) with Adele Marcus, and self-taught as a composer. She released two CDs of chamber music on BiBimBop Records, Perigee & Apogee and Earthshine. In 2007, Naxos Records added a CD of her works for solo piano, performed by Moon herself, to their catalog of important 21st century composers. Her work has been acclaimed by Kyle Gann, Gramophone, Allmusic, and others.
She is of Korean-American descent.
She also has gained notability for performing a series of "Whodunit?" concerts at such venues as the Kennedy Center, in which the program notes are not provided until the end of the concert.

The Beata Moon Ensemble
The Beata Moon Ensemble debuted on February 22, 2002 at Columbia University's Miller Theatre with Lara St. John as the featured soloist.

Beata Moon, piano
Tara Helen O'Connor, flute
Jacqueline Leclair, oboe
Marianne Gythfeldt, clarinet
Ann Ellsworth, french horn
Laura Koepke, bassoon (adjunct instructor of music at Western Connecticut State University)

Perigee & Apogee (Jan 1, 2000)
Safari (2000) - performed by Beata Moon/David Fedele/Tom Chiu/Makoto Nakura/Thomas Kolor
Piano Fantasy (1998) - performed by Beata Moon
Moonpaths (1998) - performed by Beata Moon/Alan R. Kay/Karen Marx
Submerged (1999) - performed by Beata Moon
Antelope Vamp (1996) - performed by Beata Moon/Tom Chiu/Makoto Nakura/Thomas Kolor
Winter Sky (1996) - performed by Beata Moon/Chin Kim
In Transit (1999) - performed by Beata Moon
Mary (1996) - performed by Beata Moon/Joan La Barbara/Tom Chiu/Danny Mallon
Prelude (1996) - performed by Beata Moon
[edit] Earthshine (Nov 20, 2004)
Movement (2002)
Illusions (2000)
Nursery (1996)
Guernica (2003)
String Quartet: Homage to Béla (2000)
1,2,3 (2002)
Vignettes (2003/04)
3 Songs for My Parents (1996)
Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day (2000)
Wind Quintet (2004)
[edit] Piano Works (Jun 26, 2007)
Piano Sonata (2006)
Submerged (1999)
In Transit (1999)
Guernica (2003)
Inter-Mez-Zo (2006)
Tocatta (2000)
Ode (1998)
Piano Fantasy (1998)
Nursery (1996)
The Secret (2005)
Prelude (1996)

Arthur Levering (born March 6, 1953, Baltimore, Maryland) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He currently resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Rome, Italy.
Levering has received commissions from the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Boston Musica Viva, the Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble, the New Juilliard Ensemble, the Rascher Saxophone Quartet, and Sequitur, among others.
Levering has won the Rome Prize in music composition (FAAR, 1997), a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship (2002), a Barlow Endowment commission (1996), a National Endowment for the Arts commission (1994), as well as prizes from the Heckscher Foundation (1997), Composers Inc. (Lee Ettelson Composer's Award, 1992), and the Composer's Guild (1990). He has also been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony (six times) and Yaddo.

Composer ARTHUR LEVERING has received many awards for his work including the Rome Prize, the Heckscher Foundation Composition Prize, a Barlow Endowment Commission, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the MacDowell Colony, and Yaddo. His compositions have been performed by various ensembles including the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the New Juilliard Ensemble, the Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Boston Musica Viva, Musica d'Oggi (Italy), and the Rascher Saxophone Quartet (Germany), and they have been played at, among others, New York's Merkin Hall, Weill Hall, and Alice Tully Hall, at the Aspen Music Festival, the Japan America Theatre on the Los Angeles Philharmonic Green Umbrella Series, as well as at concerts and festivals in Britain, France, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland. Compact disks of his work include School of Velocity, CRI CD 812 ("the best debut album by an American composer I've heard this year"—Robert Carl, Fanfare, July/August, 1999), and Still Raining, Still Dreaming, New World CD NW 80662-2.

Highlights of Past Performances
· Tema (string qrt.) was played by the Boston Composers String Quartet in Rome and Imperia, Italy, in January 1992.
· Roulade (flt., hp., string trio) was performed by the British ensemble Ondine at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, in October 1992, and by Alternate Currents in San Francisco in October 1993.
· Clarion/Shadowing (cl., vln., pno.) premiered on a NuClassix concert in Boston in November 1992 (described by the Boston Globe as "show(ing) a canny husbanding of sonorous energy with powerful motoric impulses spelled by hypnotic calms").
· Twenty Ways Upon the Bells (seven players), commissioned by the Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble for their 20th anniversary season, premiered in Boston in October 1994 ("drop-dead gorgeous"—Boston Globe).
· Time's Arrow (orch.) was performed by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony in Cleveland in April 1996 (described by Donald Rosenberg of the Cleveland Plain Dealer as "a cascade of fascinating ideas . . . cataclysmic climaxes and delicate nuances applied with colorful economy").
· School of Velocity (pno.) was played by 1991 Schubert International Piano Competition prizewinner Donald Berman at New York's Merkin Hall in March 1999 ("highly impressive . . . packed with musical energy"—Paul Griffiths, New York Times).
· Quaterna (sax. qrt.) was premiered by the Rascher Saxophone Quartet in May 1999 in Stuttgart, Germany.
More recent performances include the New York premiere of Catena (pno. and chamber orch.) by the New Juilliard Ensemble, Joel Sachs, conductor, on November 21, 2000, at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center presented Cloches II (eight players) on February 15, 2001, on the Double Exposure Series at Lincoln Center. The 21st Century Consort performed Clarion/Shadowing on March 13, 2004, at the Hirschhorn Museum in Washington, DC. The revised version of Still Raining, Still Dreaming (six players) was premiered by the Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble in Boston on September 18, 2005. Tesserae II (alto sax., pno.) was premiered on April 12, 2007 in Zurich, Switzerland by Harry White and Edward Rushton. Sequitur premiered Furies (eleven players) on January 30, 2008 at Merkin Hall in New York.

Awards
· Heckscher Foundation Composition Prize, 1997
· Barlow Endowment Commission, 1996
· Lee Ettelson Composers Award, 1992
· Composers Guild Prize, 1990.


Fellowships
· Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, 2002
· Rome Prize Fellow, American Academy in Rome, 1996-97
· NEA Fellow, 1994
· Fellow, Yaddo, 1993
· Fellow, Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, 1991
· Fellow, MacDowell Colony, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996
· Fellow, Yale at Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, 1990
· Fellow, June in Buffalo Festival, 1988, 1989
· Fellow, Aspen Music Festival, 1987

Education

Boston University School of Music, M.M. (Composition), 1988; Yale University School of Music, M.M. (Classical Guitar), 1979; Colby College, B.A., 1976.

Anthony Coleman (born August 30, 1955) is an American musician. Coleman is a piano and keys player, trombonist and vocalist mainly working within the free improvised and avant-garde jazz scenes in downtown New York during the late 1970s through to the present day[1]. His greatest impact was during the 80s and 90s when he worked with rising avant-garde star John Zorn on such seminal works as Cobra, Kristallnacht, The Big Gundown, Archery and Spillane and helped push forward modern Jewish music into the 21st century.

Coleman's collaborators over the years have included guitarist Elliott Sharp, trumpeter Dave Douglas, accordion player Guy Klucevsek, composer David Shea, former Captain Beefheart bandmember Gary Lucas, classical and Klezmer clarinetist David Krakauer, guitarist Marc Ribot, bassist Greg Cohen, drummer Joey Baron and saxophonist Roy Nathanson.

Anthony Coleman is a composer-keyboardist who has performed and recorded throughout the world. His projects include the piano trio Sephardic Tinge, which has released three discs: Sephardic Tinge, Morenica, and Our Beautiful Garden Is Open (all Tzadik) and has performed at the Sarajevo Jazz Festival (with support from Arts International), North Sea Jazz Festival, Saalfelden Festival, and the Krakow and Vienna Jewish Culture Festivals. His Selfhaters Orchestra has issued two CDs: Selfhaters and The Abysmal Richness of the Infinite Proximity of the Same (both Tzadik). His compositions for other ensembles include Latvian Counter-Gambit for chamber orchestra, commissioned by the Crosstown Ensemble, Mise en Abime, commissioned by the Bang On A Can All-Stars/Jerome Foundation, Goodbye and Good Luck, commissioned by Neta Pulvermacher and Dancers/Meet The Composer, as well as commissions from Rel‰che, Aspen Woodwind Quintet, and David Krakauer/Concert Artists Guild. Coleman's compositions can also be heard on the following CDs: Carol Emanuel's Tops of Trees (Koch); Guy Klucevsek's Manhattan Cascade (CRI); A Guide For The Perplexed (Knitting Factory Works); A Conspiracy of Dances (Einstein); and Polka From the Fringe (Wave/Eva).

Coleman's other major projects have included by Night, a series of pieces based on experiences in the ex-Yugoslavia (Disco by Night [Avant]) and the duo Lobster and Friend, with saxophonist Roy Nathanson (The Coming Great Millennium, Lobster and Friend [both Knitting Factory Works] and I Could've Been A Drum [Tzadik]). He has also produced several recordings for other artists, including Marc Ribot, Basya Schecter and Pharoah's Daughter, Romanian singer Sanda, as well as the acclaimed With Every Breath - the Music of Shabbat at BJ [Knitting Factory Works].

Anthony Coleman has received grants and residencies from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Djerassi Colony, the Civitella Ranieri Center, the Frei und Hansestadt Hamburg Kulturbehšrde and the Yellow Springs Arts Center. In the last year, Coleman has been the subject of a three-day festival, Abstract Adventures, in Brussels, Belgium. He presented a concert of his music as part of the Interpretations series at Merkin Concert Hall, NYC. He spent the spring semester of 2003 teaching theory and composition at Bennington College in Vermont and toured Europe with his new trio, Professionales, featuring Brad Jones and Roberto Rodriguez.

He has degrees in composition from the New England Conservatory of Music and the Yale School of Music and attended Mauricio Kagel's seminar at Centre Acanthes in Aix-en-Provence, France.

Alex Shapiro aligns note after note with the hope that a few of them might actually sound good next to each other. She has become one of the Pacific coast's more familiar composers of acoustic and electroacoustic chamber music, and her expressive, dramatic works are performed and broadcast weekly across the U.S. and internationally. Published by Activist Music, Ms. Shapiro's scores are widely distributed, and found in libraries and universities nationwide. Alex's music has been recorded by many artists and is available on over twenty CDs from Cambria Master Recordings, Innova Recordings, Crystal Records, DC Records, Centaur Records, Quindecim Recordings, Move Records, Obst, Oehms Classics and others.

Born in New York City in 1962 and raised in Manhattan, Alex began composing at age nine. She was educated at The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, where she was a composition student of Ursula Mamlok and John Corigliano. Earlier composition studies from age fifteen were with Leo Edwards at Mannes College of Music and with Michael Czajkowski and George Tsontakis at the Aspen Music School. An accomplished pianist, Ms. Shapiro was a student of New York recitalist Marshall Kreisler, and she is an active guitarist as well.

Ms. Shapiro is the recipient of national honors and awards including those from the American Music Center, ASCAP, the American Composers Forum, Meet the Composer and Mu Phi Epsilon, and she has been awarded artist fellowships from The California Arts Council and The MacDowell Colony.

An enthusiastic leader in the new music community, Alex is a strong advocate for other artists through her speaking appearances and her published articles. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Music Center, sits on ASCAP's Symphony & Concert Committee, and is the recent President of the Board of Directors of the American Composers Forum of Los Angeles. She is an advisor for The MacDowell Colony, and has served as an officer on the boards of national music organizations including NACUSA, The College Music Society, and The Society of Composers & Lyricists. Her volunteer activism extends beyond the music world, and encompasses three terms she served in the 1990's on the Board of Directors of the ACLU of Southern California, including two years as the 30,000-member affiliate's Vice-president, and to her current activities as a Board member of the University of Washingtonís renowned marine science research facility, the Friday Harbor Laboratories.

Articulate, passionate and entertaining, Ms. Shapiro appears regularly as a speaker at a wide variety of music events, including NARAS' Grammy® in the Schools, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's First Nights series, IAWM's International Congress of Women in Music, the National Performing Arts Convention in Denver, Colorado, and each of ASCAP's I Create Music Expos in Hollywood. Since 2000 Alex has interviewed over 100 composers as the moderator of the popular Los Angeles Composer’s Salon series as well as ACF/LA's Composer to Composer series at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and she is a familiar guest lecturer at many colleges and universities, including being the Keynote speaker at the Society of Composers, Inc. 2006 National Conference. Alex is a speaker for ASCAP's Composer Career Workshop series, and recently testified on a Federal Communications Commission panel hearing in Washington, D.C., about broadband access and digital rights issues.

A longtime resident of Malibu, California, Alex now resides on Washington State's San Juan Island, and when she's not composing she can often be found sea kayaking, or communing with the sea life at the tide pools, evidence of which can be found on her blog, Notes from the Kelp.