Biography
Alexander Blank (b. 1991) is a composer currently living in Bloomington, Indiana, where he is pursuing a Master's in composition at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University as a student of Sven-David Sandstrom. Mr. Blank also received his B.M. in Composition at the Jacobs School of Music, studying with Don Freund, P.Q. Phan, Aaron Travers, and Claude Baker, and electroacoustic music with Jeffrey Hass and John Gibson.
Mr. Blank's research interests include microtonal music, spectral/post-spectral theory, tuning theory, and interactive/responsive approaches to writing and performing electroacoustic music. These research areas an integral component of his music. For example, one recent project, Parallax for large orchestra, moves between formal and harmonic sections via common-partial modulation. Other recent pieces include Until the Sun Dies for large chorus, his String Quartet, F.Au.St. for guitar and live electronics (using 6-channel spatialization), and Murmerings, for clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon (doubling contrabassoon), percussion (1 player), toy piano (or, alternatively, celesta), piano, viola, cello, and double bass.
Aside from his work as a composer, Mr. Blank is also active as a conductor; in the summer of 2013, he served as assistant conductor for Orchestrating Divserity: El Sistema Saint Louis, an after-school music education program which serves at-risk and disadvantaged teens in Saint Louis. As assistant conductor, Mr. Blank's responsibilities included conducting daily rehearsals and sectionals on repertoire in preparation for the program’s final summer concert, including Beethoven's Symphony 3 Eroica, Bruch's Kol Nidrei, and Mozart's Bassoon Concerto, K. 191, and conducted the Mozart in that summer's final concert.
During his time with Orchestrating Diversity, Mr. Blank also served as the primary Aural Skills Instructor, where his responsibilities included designing and implementing a comprehensive aural skills curriculum for the eight-week summer program, as well as creating and administering exercises and exams and overseeing two assistant instructors. Additionally, Mr. Blank served as the Woodwinds Orchestral Coach, where his duties included leading sectionals and providing weekly oboe and bassoon lessons to several students.
Mr. Blank is active as an engraver and copyist, with a broad and growing list of clients. He is an expert in Finale, specializing in large and complex scores, including aleatory and graphical notation. Additionally, he is a font developer and a contributor to the Standard Musical Font Layout (SMuFL).
