James Alexander
Adjunct Instructor of Music
James Alexander is an American violinist who enjoys an international career as a teacher, soloist, chamber and orchestra musician. He began his violin studies in his native Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with Dinos Constantinides and Sally O’Reilly at Louisiana State University. Alexander continued his studies in New York with Ivan Galamian and later in London with Yfrah Neaman. He was awarded the Concert Recital Diploma (Premier Prix) from the Guildhall School of Music in England.
Alexander’s professional violin career started in the Southwest German Philharmonic where he served as an associate principal second violin for three years. Later, he held the same position in the St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland for eight years. In 1998, Alexander came back to the United States as artist-in-residence teaching violin at Louisiana State University, where he has taught for the past nine years. In 2000, Alexander was invited to coach at the String Quartet Symposium in Ernen, Switzerland, where he continues teaching and performing every year. From 2001 to 2003, he was regularly invited to join the OSESP Symphony Orchestra in São Paulo, Brazil.
Alexander is the director of the Pelican State Chamber Music Series which is funded by the Louisiana Division of the Arts as well as the Alexander Violin Scholarship Fund based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He is a member of the Burle Marx Trio and most recently, the Alexander-Soares violin and piano duo, currently in residence at Nicholls State University. Beginning the fall of 2007, Alexander founded the new string program at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana, where he teaches violin, viola and string pedagogy.
Alexander is an active chamber musician and soloist having given concerts in Austria, Czechoslovakia, England, Germany, Japan, Italy, Switzerland, Serbia, Brazil, Uruguay, Romania and throughout the United States. His performances have been broadcast locally and nationally on radio and TV. Alexander has given master classes in Brazil, Germany, Switzerland, Romania and the United States. He was recently awarded The Diploma of Excellence for his significant contributions to Romanian music by the government of Romania. Most recently, he was invited as a guest artist to the Offenberg Festival in Germany, toured with the Burle Marx Trio in Brazil, and has given master classes and recitals in Fortaleza, João Pessoa, Recife, Rio de Janeiro and at the Centro-Sul e Vale do Salgado Chamber Music Festival in Brazil as well as at the Dinu Lipati School of Music and the George Enescu School of Music in Bucharest, Romania. He also gave a critically acclaimed concerto performance at the famous Atheneum in Bucharest. A new CD of the Alexander-Soares Duo, consisting of Brazilian music, is expected in the fall of 2008. Alexander lives in Baton Rouge with his wife and two sons.
Listen: Liduino Pitombeira, Sonata No. 3 (download mp3)
Contact information:
278 Talbot Hall
Phone: 985.449.7085
E-mail: james.alexander@nicholls.edu