Aleksandra W.

Piano, Voice, Composition

 

Aleksandra is a pianist, singer, and composer based in New York City. Originally a native of Uzbekistan, Aleksandra was born into a highly artistic family and started to learn how to play the piano and sing at the age of four. At the age of six, she was accepted into a specialized music program for gifted students and began to formally study classical piano, solfege and voice. Upon moving to Seattle, Aleksandra was introduced to the classical American art form - Jazz, when she joined her high school’s elite vocal jazz ensemble. The ensemble frequently performed in jazz festivals and competitions all across the U.S. and Canada, culminating in a highlight performance at Carnegie Hall. During this time, Aleksandra also taught and accompanied her fellow students in her high school’s choir and started to write and perform original songs in a variety of rock clubs, open mics and small theatre venues across Seattle, WA. She continued to study piano and vocal jazz at University of Washington, while also pursuing a degree in social sciences and developing her skills as a songwriter and performer. In 2015, Aleksandra earned an MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from New York University with concentration in music composition and has been growing a prolific body of music theater works ever since. While at NYU, Aleksandra also music directed, taught, and coached musical theatre students from New Studio on Broadway, which further propelled her joy of teaching and collaborating with young students who are passionate about the performing arts.  

 

Aleksandra’s work has been performed at New York’s Feinstein’s/54 Below, Joe’s Pub, American Opera Projects, Target Margin Theatre, Dixon Place, New York University, and Columbia University, as well as on the West coast at The Moore Theater, Triple Door and the 5th Avenue Theatre New Works Program Writer’s Salon. Recent music theater and opera works include Henna Leaves, written for The International House in collaboration with American Opera Projects; A Rebel Prayer, which received an equity reading and a staged workshop at NYU as part of the Collaborative, Development and Production workshop; and Beta Uprising, which received a performance in collaboration with the Fort Greene Park Conservancy and American Opera Projects. Her newest full-length musical Silueta is scheduled for a world premier at Passage Theatre in Trenton, NJ in Spring of 2020. Aleksandra is a co-founder of theater rock band Scarlet Room and the Govedare & Weil duo along with longtime collaborator Eloise Govedare. Hailed as the “new artist to watch” on Seattle Channel’s Art Zone with Nancy Guppy, Scarlet Room released three EP’s including Chapters A to Z, Scarlet Room, and From the Shadow performing at esteemed festivals such as Bumbershoot. Aleksandra studied composition with world-renowned composer Dmitri Yanov-Yanovski, Byron Au Yong, Mel Marvin, film scoring with Pat Irwin of B-52’s and classical voice with internationally acclaimed opera singer Lois White.

 

Aleksandra is a passionate educator who particularly enjoys working with young kids who are just setting foot on their musical journey. She incorporates games, improvisation, and singing into her lessons as a way to engage her student’s natural creativity and wide-ranging forms of self-expression. She believes that music education should be accessible, fun, and a part of every child’s life in whatever form that excites them the most. Aleksandra is the current Artistic and Administrative Director at Soyulla Artists.