Name: Alex Peh
Academic Rank: Associate Professor
Department: Music
Expertise Keywords: contemporary music, improvisation, Persian-tuned piano, piano, Sandaya
Available For: interviews, essays, speaking
Expertise: A 2021 Fulbright Global Scholar and 2019 Asian Cultural Council Fellow, Dr. Alex Peh is an pianist whose work intersects with musicians globally in the spirit of collaboration and shared space. He made his Carnegie Hall debut, January 2023 alongside improvisers Claire Chase, Tyshawn Sorey, Susie Ibarra, Senem Pirler, Matana Roberts and Lisa Harris performing a one hour version of Pauline Oliveros’ “The Witness”. His work has been presented nationally in venues such as Public Theater, New York City; BRIC, Brooklyn; National Sawdust, Brooklyn; Detroit Institute for the Arts, Detroit; Roulette Intermedium, New York City. Internationally, he has performed at Chulalongkorn Unviersty, Bangkok, Thailand; Byzantine museum of Art, Thessaloniki Greece; CB Ballroom, Yangon Myanmar; Sonic Matter, Zurich Switzerland. He is the featured artist in a new Ethnographic film “Intermittent Attunement” created by Lauren Meeker and Alyson Hummer, that was selected for screening at the 2024 Paris Ethnografilm Festival. He has received numerous grants to support his work such as a National Endowment for the Arts project grant, New York State Council of the Arts Grant, New Music USA, Fulbright Global Scholar and Asian Cultural Council fellowships. Peh has released a solo album, Attune on Habitat Sounds, and Talking Gong with his trio including flutist, Claire Chase and percussionist, Susie Ibarra on New Focus Recordings. Peh received his musical training from Indiana and Northwestern Universities where he worked with Arnaldo Cohen, Menahem Pressler, Sylvia Wang and Evelyne Brancart. He attended the Banff, Aspen and Tanglewood music festivals where he worked with Emanuel Ax, Pamela Frank, Claude Frank, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, and Peter Serkin. He performed Stravinsky’s Les Noces under the baton of Charles Dutoit and the Tanglewood Festival Choir.
Currrent Research: Sky Islands, new commissioned quintet by Susie Ibarra, Asia Society, New York City.
Contact Information
E-mail Address: peha@newpaltz.edu
Personal Web Site: http://www.alexpeh.com
Education
| Colleges/ Universities Attended |
Dates Attended |
Degree Conferred |
Year Conferred |
Major Subject |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northwestern University | BMus | 2000 | Piano Performance | |
| Northwestern University | MMus | 2001 | Piano Performance | |
| Indiana University | DMA | 2011 | Piano Performance |
Awards/Grants/Honors
January 2023: NYSCA project grant with UNISON arts center and Susie Ibarra. Luzon Forests. ($10,000)
May 2022: National Endowment for the Arts Project Grant ($25,000)
May 2022: New Music USA Creator Development Grant ($5,000)
August 2021-August 2023: Global Fulbright fellow. Travel to Myanmar and Greece. ($18,000)
February 12, 2021: NYSCA Individual artist commission. New solo piece by Anna Clyne. ($3500)
September 9, 2020: New Music USA commissioning grant for Kyaw Kyaw Naing to write Burmese piano piece. ($4000)
June 1, 2019: Asian Cultural Council Fellowship to travel to Yangon, Myanmar to learn new work from pianist U Yee Nwe. ($8,000)
Other professional activities
December 15, 2023. Published first solo album of solo piano music “Attune” that explores piano in global styles. Offered recording contract by Habitat Sounds record label. Available on all streaming platforms.
June 29, 2023: Anatolia Summer Music guest recital, Thessaloniki, Greece.
May 6-7, 2023: Bang on a Can Long Play Festival. Roulette, New York City.
March 15, 2023: Chulalongkorn University performance and lecture, Bangkok, Thailand
January 21-23, 2023: Pauline Oliveros at 90, Carnegie Zankel Hall, New York City.
October 28, 2022: World premiere of Piano Cycles by Susie Ibarra. Detroit Institute for the Arts.
June 18, 2022: World premieres by composers from America, Myanmar, Greece and Iran. National Sawdust, Brooklyn NYC. New work by Anna Clyne, Susie Ibarra, Phyllis Chen, Nikos Ordoulidis, Ne Myo Aung, U Yee Nwe.
April 21-June 12: Fulbright residency at University of Ioannina, Greece.
April 20, 2022: Talking Gong @ Public Theater, NYC
March 20, 2022: West Oakland Sessions: Paul Drescher Ensemble. Concert with saxophonist, Hafez Modirzadeh. San Francisco, California.
December 2022: Talking Gong @ Sonic Matter. Zurich, Switzerland. Performance with Claire Chase and Susie Ibarra in trio realization of Pauline Oliveros’ “The Witness”.
October 27, 2021: Guest lecturer, Harvard University. Performance with Harvard New Music Ensemble.
June 9, 2021: Talking Gong @ Roulette Intermedium. Trio performance with Claire Chase and Susie Ibarra.
April 19, 2021: Talking Gong@ Bennington College
March 1-14, 2021. Premiere “Ko Kyi Kyaw” ethnographic film for Asian Cultural Council Nat Pwe Project. Created by Dr. Meeker to be used in online course unit that features discussion of Nat Pwe, online ZOOM conversation with Burmese Nat Gedaws, and a showing of Kyaw Kyaw Naing’s new work “Ko Kyi Kyaw”.
January 22, 2021. Album release “Talking Gong”. New Focus Records. Featuring music of Susie Ibarra.
October 1, 2020. Signed recording contract to publish “Growing Rhythm” album with New Focus Recordings.
September 9, 2020. In Dialogue Series. Asian Cultural Council ZOOM panel discussion on Nat Pwe project.
January 12th, 2020. Concert at Gitameit institude of music, Yangon, Myanmar.
January 10th, 2020 Concert at CB Bank Ballroom. Yangon, Myanmar. Broadcast on Channel K.
December 20th, 2020. Travel to Yangon, Myanmar as an Asian Cultural Council fellow.
Publications
Peh, Alex. Attune. Habitat Sounds, December 15, 2023.
Peh Alex. Talking Gong. New Focus Recordings, January 2020.
Kerekes, Emery. “A Tribute to Meredith Monk Highlights Bang on a Can’s Long Play Festival.” San Francisco Classical Voice, May 30, 2023. https://www.sfcv.org/articles/review/tribute-meredith-monk-highlights-bang-cans-long-play-festival
Walls, Seth Colter. “Claire Chase Uses Her New Platform to Showcase a Hero.” New York Times, January 19, 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/19/arts/music/claire-chase-pauline-oliveros-carnegie-hall.html
Peh, Alex; Meeker, Lauren and Hummer, Alyson. “Intermittent Attunement.” National Sawdust Ideas Zone, January 11, 2023. https://www.nationalsawdust.org/articles/alex-peh-intermittent-attunement
