Alex Peh
pianist
Projects
My work takes the form of projects that emerge from my relationships with musicians from around the globe. Out of these friendships and shared music-making spaces, we create new work.
National Endowment for the Arts Project: Hafez Modirzadeh's Beyond Song
Saxophonist Hafez Modirzadeh will perform with New Paltz music faculty and students in a concert featuring the world premiere of “Beyond Song,” a work in Afro/Asian tuning sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Talking Gong: Sky Islands at Asia Society
Percussionist and sound artist, Susie Ibarra creates a new work for two percussionists, flute, piano and string quartet, entitled Luzon Rainforests, in collaboration with UNISON arts center. Pianist Alex Peh, flutist Claire Chase, percussionist Levy Lorenzo and the Bergamot string quartet rehearse together for a preliminary first hearing of this work December 13th, 4-6 pm, in Shepard Recital Hall in College Hall, SUNY New Paltz.
UNISON Arts Center received a NYSCA project grant to provide the seed money to realize this work. Since then, the piece has received generous funding from the Harvard FROMM foundation, and Asia Society. The work will make it's New York City premiere at Asia Society, NYC, July 2024.
Intermittent Attunement
This ethnographic film follows Dr. Alex Peh, an American classically trained pianist, as he reattunes his relationship with the piano through oral lessons in piano traditions found throughout the world: Burmese sandaya, Greek rebetiko, Persian-tuned classical piano and American Jazz. Working closely with U Thet Oo (Myanmar), Ne Myo Aung (Myanmar), Nikos Ordoulidis (Greece), Hafez Modirzadeh (Iran/America), and Pooyan Azadeh (Iran), Alex reaches out into unfamiliar piano soundscapes to unsettle (Western) definitional boundaries of the piano and its music.
New Solo album Attune
This album is about the collaboration between two musicians, bonded in a process of attunement to one another as they co-create new music. Composers featured include U Yee Nwe, U Thet Oo, Ne Myo Aung, Anna Clyne, Hafez Modirzadeh, Pooyan Azadeh, and Nikos Ordoulidis. This album tracks the piano as it moved eastward from Europe into Greece, Iran and Myanmar. The work on this album comes from the myriad syncretic musical practices that flourished as a result of this migration. It celebrates the messy space that occurs when cultures communicate to create new forms and sounds.
Carnegie Zankel Hall, Pauline at 90
Alex performed Pauline Oliveros' The Witness with improvisers,
Claire Chase, flute; Tyshawn Sorey, percussion; Susie Ibarra, percussion; Matana Roberts, saxophone; Lisa Harris, voice; Senem Pirler, live electronics. He led workshops with students of all ages in A Day of Listening from Zankel Hall stage. This project had its roots in New Paltz where Claire, Susie and Senem rehearsed the Witness in locations that ranged from the Susie's living room, to the Mary Jane Widow mines, and Millbrook Preserve.
Global Fulbright Scholar Bangkok, Thailand
Alex Peh travels to Bangkok, Thailand where he is in resdience at Silpkaorn University Department of music. He taught music students enrolled in conducting, and piano. He worked with pianists, musicians, and musicologists, Jamorn Supapol, Damrih Banawitayakit and Anant Narkkong. He gave lectures at Chulalongkorn, Silpakorn and Rangsit Universities.
He filmed and recorded the final works for Peh's solo album Attune with Ne Myo Aung at Studio 28 in Bangkok.
Global Fulbright Scholar Ioannina, Greece
Alex Peh worked at the University of Ioannina in Arta, specifically working with the piano classes of Dr. Ordoulidis and Lorenda Ramou. Peh worked with Ordoulidis on a new commissioned piece Piece of minds, and filmed footage for the ethnographic film, Intermittent Attunement. They improvised together in his home in Naoussa, Greece.
National Endowment for the Arts Project: Persian-tuned piano
Musicians Ramin Zoufonoun, Amir Etemadzadeh, Pooyan Azadeh were commissioned to create new works in Persian tuning for the piano. New works include Tamana, Se Zarbi, and Chahargah. They worked with student pianists, Logan Parmeter, Elizabeth Distefano, Nick Ayala, Sion Kikuchi, Bobae Jang and Ben Cherry in masterclasses, lectures and workshops with Dr. Alex Peh.
Youtube link to the concert of Ramin Zoufonoun and Amir Etemadzadeh
Youtube link to student performances
Asian Cultural Council trip to Yangon, Myanmar, January-February 2019
Alex Peh received a 2019 Asian Cultural Council grant to travel to Myanmar to work with master pianist, Dr. U Yee Nwe from his home to learn Oh Hlnya ni Lin. Peh learned the piece by ear in the oral tradition of Burmese Sandaya piano from Dr. U Yee Nwe. He also performed a verision of Thein Yo Sein in a concert honoring U Yee Nwe's life and work at the CB Ballroom in Yangon, Myanmar.