Alex Tedrow is a composer, arranger, and educator who strives to connect performers and audiences of all ages with fresh, fun, and innovative music and technology. Offering a “vivacious and colorful” stylistic voice described as a “topography of beautifully integrated and deliberate sounds” (Eric Smedley), he regularly writes music for a wide variety of media. An Emmy-nominee and ASCAP Morton Gould Award winner, his works have been played internationally by musicians in both professional and educational settings – including the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Wet Ink Ensemble, acclaimed broadway performer, Christopher Jackson, and multiple middle school, high school, and college ensembles from nearly every continent. With his background and training as a music educator, he frequently works as a clinician/guest conductor with student musicians to realize their full potential as young artists.

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Alex currently resides in Washington D.C. as full-time Staff Arranger for The U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own," writing music performed at the White House, Capitol Building, Arlington Cemetery, and across the city for officials at the highest levels of government and the military. In addition to his professional activities, Alex is committed to community engagement. In 2016, he co-founded Composing for a Cause – a not-for-profit program in which professional musicians travel to hospitals for children across the United States to host songwriting and creativity workshops. In 2019, he joined the Jacobs Community Engagement Initiative focusing on cultivating sustainable development in rural Indiana communities through collaborative arts programming.

 

Alex maintains a busy schedule as a freelance composer. As a SEAMUS Allen Strange Award recipient, he is best-known for his works combining live performers with electronics. In 2019, he studied at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) in Paris, France during ManiFeste where he premiered Planet Playground – an interactive, real-time, data-driven project incorporating crowd participation via cell phones. Additionally, his music has been featured in multiple nationally-aired PBS documentaries, award-winning short films, video games on Steam and the Apple App Store, and community theater/ballet productions.

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As a previous Lilly Endowment Scholar, Alex holds B.M., M.M., and M.S. degrees in composition and music education from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. At IU, he previously held positions as Associate Instructor of Music Education, Composition Department Coordinator, and as a faculty member with the pre-college Jacobs Academy. During summers, he has also worked as a Music Theory Instructor at the Brevard Music Center. Alex is a classical saxophonist, jazz bassist, and rock keyboard and guitar player; he can regularly be found playing weekend gigs in the Washington D.C. area. He is an avid traveler, hiker, foodie, podcast listener, and animal lover — all themes that frequently inspire his work.