Cellist Dr. James T. Alexander III is the featured performer for the Spring Semester Faculty Recital presented by the Lake Michigan College Visual & Performing Arts Department. The free public performance will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 4 in the LMC Mendel Center’s Hanson Theatre on the Benton Harbor Campus, 2755 E. Napier Ave.
The performance will explore an eclectic mix of cello and electronic/avant-garde music. Alexander plans to perform pieces by composers George Crumb, Iannis Xenakis, and Kaija Saariaho. He will also premiere a self-composed piece titled “Nothing Has It” along with debut selections by Gregory Rowland Evans, Katy Jiaying Li, and Santiago Gutierrez.
In addition to being a music instructor at LMC, Alexander is a performer, composer, and improviser with an interest in the liminal space between the fields of musicology and ethnomusicology. He presented his doctoral research, "The Influence of Vietnamese Traditional Music on the Cello Works of P. Q. Phan, Vân-Ánh Võ, and Nhật Minh Nguyễn,'' at colleges and conferences around the United States.
Alexander has premiered cello works by Tyson Davis, Julio Elvin Quiñones, and Jane K (Evgeniya Kozhevnikova); collaborated with producers such as Woulg, Jack Herscowitz, and Chase Chandler; and written music for DECODA, Kip Haaheim, Alize Francheska Roznyai, and members of International Contemporary Ensemble. He played percussion and electric guitar in bands led by Susie Ibarra, Elliott Sharp, and David Sanford.
Alexander is Director of Orchestras at Muskegon Middle School and High School and teaches World Music, Cello Performance, and Introduction to the Arts at LMC.
For more information about the LMC Visual & Performing Arts department and performances, visit lakemichigancollege.edu/arts, email mmccaffrey@lakemichigancollege.edu, or call 269-927-8876.
About the Lake Michigan College Visual & Performing Arts Department
The Visual & Performing Arts Department allows students to reach new levels of excellence through classroom instruction and public performance. Many programs, including theatre, instrumental and vocal music, and dance, are based in the Lake Michigan College Mendel Center, the only performing arts center of its kind in southwest Michigan. Here, LMC students have opportunities to study the performing arts in a venue that attracts more than 100,000 patrons annually. Programs including drawing, painting, and graphic design allow students to explore the possibilities in the visual arts.
Auditions are held for select ensembles that perform on the same stages as world-renowned touring acts. Students in any major also have opportunities to audition for Broadway musicals and plays and join two different vocal ensembles, string and wind ensembles, a pop-rock ensemble, and jazz band. One of only two colleges in Michigan to carry the prestigious All-Steinway designation, LMC has a team of highly qualified faculty that bring real-world expertise to the classroom.
Posted January 17, 2024