Alex Shapiro
[6] [3] In 1983, upon being hired to score a documentary film in Los Angeles, Shapiro opted to leave Manhattan School of Music before graduating, having completed her third year of undergraduate studies.
She has composed nearly 30 works for concert wind band, the majority of which are electroacoustic, and is known for her contemporary approach to the genre's repertoire at all performance skill levels, through pieces that often incorporate visual and physical multimedia, as well as extended instrumental techniques.
[1] Her works often incorporate unusual instruments such as printer paper, metal bowls of water dripped from sponges, rocks, ping pong balls, and balloons in pieces like “Paper Cut” (2010), “Liquid Compass” (2014), “Rock Music” (2016), “Masked” (2021) and “Pop Music” (2022), and make extensive use of recorded found sounds and sound design in works including “Beneath” (2010), “Trains of Thought” (2017), “Ascent” (2020), “Breathe” (2020), and “Viral” (2021).
Shapiro is widely regarded as a pioneer in bringing technology into the wind band genre, both through her music and as an early adopter in engaging with ensembles in hundreds of online sessions for which she coined the term, “webhearsals”.
Two of her pieces composed in 2021, “Count to Ten” and “Kitchen Sync” take approaches to teaching students compound meters and syncopated rhythms not usually found in beginner's repertoire.
In 2020 Shapiro added to the ultra-flex repertoire with an electroacoustic piece for any large ensemble titled “Passages,” the basis of which are individual one-line cells that can be played in an order, and in any combination with the audio track.
[37] From 2016 to 2019 Shapiro was ASCAP's elected representative on the executive committee of CIAM, the writer's council to CISAC,[38] the global network of collective management companies.
[42][43] In 2021 Shapiro joined the advisory board for United Sound,[44][45] and since 2022 she has served as the Northwest Division Representative of the Council for Music Composition for NAfME.
She chaired the 1996-1999 “State of the Art” Film & TV Music Conferences, co-presented in Los Angeles at The Directors Guild of America by the SCL and The Hollywood Reporter.
Shapiro was the sole composer invited in the spring of 2020 to join eleven collegiate wind band conductors and form the CBDNA COVID-19 Response Committee[60] to address the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on the fields of music performance and education.
In September 2009, Shapiro testified on a Federal Communications Commission panel hearing in Washington, D.C. about broadband access in rural areas, and copyright challenges in the digital realm.
[65] Shapiro served as co-moderator of the October 2021 ASCAP/NYU Media Lab webinar about AI and augmented realities impacting artists' lives,[66] and in 2024 she gave a multimedia clinic on artificial intelligence, immersive performances, and their impact on concerts and education, at the College Band Directors National Association Western/Northwestern Division Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.
[67] Shapiro regularly discusses new technology and the importance of understanding how it works and its effect on the music industry, as a frequent guest on webcasts and podcasts.
Shapiro served on the board of directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California[71] from 1990 to 1996, including two terms as the 30,000-member affiliate's vice president.
[72] During this period she served as Chairperson of ACLU/SC's State and National Legislative Action Committee, co-producer two day-long conferences, and was a frequent public speaker and debater on issues of reproductive freedom.
