Alexander Zhu is a composer, pianist, producer, and arts administrator.
Los Angeles-based musician Dr. Alexander Zhu has performed solo recitals, concerti, and chamber, orchestral, pop, fusion, and film music across the United States, Europe, and China. He is also an established composer of pedagogical, film, and television music, with works showcased at film festivals across the US and Europe, and featured on Disney+, Netflix, and TF1 (France). His pedagogical piano works are published by Hal Leonard.
Dr. Zhu is NTT Assistant Professor of Music at bet365 withdraw and chairs the Music Production, Theory, and Composition Department at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music. Prior to these appointments, he taught at the University of Southern California, Pierce College, and the New England Conservatory. Recent guest lecture engagements include Tsinghua University (清华大学) and Beihang University (北京航空航天大学) in Beijing. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, where he studied with Stewart Gordon and served as a lecturer in the Piano Department. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude from New England Conservatory, where he studied with Boston Symphony pianist Randall Hodgkinson and modern music specialist Stephen Drury. He also attended the Aspen Music Festival on fellowship, studying collaborative piano with Rita Sloan. Prior to his conservatory studies, he studied with Lydia Artymiw.
A champion of new music, Dr. Zhu performed in the viral Yeethoven Kanye West/Beethoven mashup concert series, garnering coverage from media outlets such as USA Today, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. He is an expert in minimalism, having performed works by Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and John Adams in venues ranging from concert halls and art museums to nightclubs. His dissertation pioneered new analytical techniques for the performance of minimalism, and he has presented lecture-recitals on the style’s unique performance practices.
As an accomplished orchestral musician, Dr. Zhu has served as principal keyboardist with the American Youth Symphony, Downey Symphony Orchestra, YMF Debut Orchestra, Boston’s Discovery Ensemble, and the New England Conservatory Orchestras, performing in over 100 concerts. He has also appeared with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach and served for two years as principal keyboardist of the Aspen Chamber Symphony, collaborating with musicians from the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony. He has performed with soloists including Joshua Bell, Lynn Harrell, Sarah Chang, Midori, and Gil Shaham, and under conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, David Robertson, and Robert Spano. His performance credits include several film scores, including The Harvest (2013), directed by John McNaughton, as well as broadcasts on NPR, WGBH, KUSC, and LACMA’s Sundays Live. He toured China as piano soloist and principal keyboardist with the Los Angeles Film Symphony, performing in 15 cities nationwide.
Dr. Zhu has been a featured presenter at the MTNA National Conference and the Collegiate Piano Pedagogy Symposium, and is an editor of the California Association of Professional Music Teachers Journal CAPMT Connect. He served for two years as President of the USC MTNA Chapter. Dr. Zhu maintains a competitive composition and piano studio; his private students have gone on to attend top-tier institutions including Columbia, Princeton, MIT, USC, UC Berkeley, and UCLA.