Alex Shapiro (b. 1962) is hard to put in a box. Born and bred in New York City, she now resides on the remote San Juan Island in Washington State. Amidst ocean views, she maintains a sophisticated digital music studio. She is a pioneer of concert music with electronics, yet she was drawn to this type of music after many years in the TV and film industry. This background gave her training in digital media, but also brought her an opportunity to reconnect with chamber music. She is an advocate for composers of all stripes, having served on multitudinous boards and committees, and she is a sparkling personality. She gives her own “30-second overview” as follows:
Composer Alex Shapiro aligns note after note with the hope that at least a few of them will actually sound good next to each other. Her persistence at this activity, as well as non-fiction music writing, arts advocacy, public speaking, wildlife photography, and the shameless instigation of insufferable puns on Facebook, has led to a happy life. Drawing from a broad musical palette that giddily ignores genre, Alex’s acoustic and electroacoustic works are published by Activist Music LLC,performed and broadcast daily, and can be found on nearly thirty commercial releases from record labels around the world.
See MUCH more at her website, particularly on her bio page.
Shapiro wrote Immersion in 2010 on a commission from several schools, led by Jerry Luckhardt at the University of Minnesota and Milton Allen at The Ohio State University. It is written for full symphonic band with a pre-recorded electronic track. Shapiro provides the following notes on her website, which features A LOT more about the piece:
IMMERSION brings listeners on a sonic journey into a private, aquatic realm. Beneath the surface of the ocean is a world of liquid beauty and grace hidden from our eyes and from our imagination. Even in this habitat of life and hope, exquisite creatures remain vulnerable to events triggered from beyond their fragile sanctuary. Follow your ears and your heart to the depths of a place we sometimes forget to look.
She continues:
IMMERSION is a three-movement symphony that can be presented as one longer piece, or modularly, in any combination of movements together or separately. Depth, and Beneath, are moderate in tempo, while Surface is very fast and percussive, and even suitable as an encore.
The sea has been a constant in my life, and I have always lived on or next to the water. From my upbringing by the rivers flanking Manhattan, to my earlier adult life on the Pacific ocean in Malibu and Santa Barbara, living on the beach and also on a sailboat, to my current existence on the Salish Sea in the Pacific Northwest where I can kayak from my home in the San Juan Islands to outlaying atolls, I’ve spent a lot of time observing water and water-based life.
My studio on San Juan Island is in a largely glass house built on the very edge of the sea with an enormous view across the Salish Sea from the San Juans to the U.S. mainland, and as I composed Immersion, the ocean and its fascinating wildlife were my constant companions. Had I not been a musician, I might have become a marine biologist, and my interest in these sciences is reflected by my participation on the Advancement Board of University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories, a preeminent marine science research center. I have a deeply fortunate life, to be a composer with an inner view to working scientists, and most of all, to have a window to the daily lives of wild creatures whose private existence is often beneath the surface, in the depth of the sea. I seek to share this private world, through music.
Immersion would not have been possible without the endless support, enthusiasm and collaborative work of Jerry Luckhardt, whose vision and assistance are deeply appreciated.
The movements are very distinct, so here are three distinct ensembles performing them.
I. Depth by the 2015-2016 GMEA District 1 11-12 Honor Band, led by Don Schofield:
II. Surface by the Colorado State University Wind Ensemble
III. Beneath by the Arizona State University Wind Ensemble, led by Jason Caslor
Read more about Immersion at the Wind Repertory Project, and check out this interview in which she talks about its connection to whales. See more about Alex Shapiro on Wikipedia, ASCAP (where she is on the board of directors), Kalvos, Music Academy Online, the Future of Music Coalition, New Music USA, and of course, her richly detailed website.