Alexander Elliott Miller is a composer, guitarist and educator currently residing in Illinois; he has received commissions and performances from ensembles including the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet, Brave New Works, the Definiens Project & soprano Tony Arnold, the Quintet Attacca, the Spiral Bound Duo, the What's Next? Ensemble and the USC Symphony.

Performances of his compositions have taken place at venues including the Aspen Music Festival, Bowdoin Music Festival, NEON Festival and the Chamber Music Conference & Composer‘s Forum of the East; upcoming performances will take place at NYC's Steinway Hall, and in Brazil at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul.  H e has received awards and honors from the American Composers Forum and the MacDowell Colony.

As a guitarist, Miller played electric guitar with the Color Field Ensemble and the What's Next? Ensemble, a new music group in Los Angeles. He has also performed his own solo compositions for classical guitar at several new music concerts across the country, including venues in Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia & San Francisco. He has also published a guitar quartet with an Italian publishing house specializing in contemporary works for guitar, VP Music Media.    

2012 News & Events

May/June 2012
Residency at the MacDowell Colony , Peterbourough, NH.

November 1st, 2012
Performance of "Actions & Resonances," Vincent Craig, piano
Steinway Hall
New York City, NY

May 25th, 2012
Performance of "Scrim," Dominic DeStefano, viola
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

March 30th, 2012
Performance of "Flatiron," Alexander Miller, guitar
College Music Society, 30th Great Lakes Regional Conference, Harper College
Palatine, IL

March 24th, 2012
Violist Martha Mooke discusses my work, "Scrim" in her presentation, "Violas on the
Verge" at the 2012 ASTA Conference. 
Atlanta, GA

March 21st, 2012
Performance of "Banging(,) Pots & Pans" by the Spiral Bound Duo.
Red Note New Music Festival
Normal, IL

March 19th, 2012
Performance with the Color Field Ensemble
Red Note New Music Festival
Normal, IL

March 17th, 2012       
Premiere of "Disappearance," Los Angeles Percussion Quartet
Los Angeles, CA

                 

           

        











    

AUDIO

Flatiron
Alexander Miller, guitar

Scrim 
Jack Stulz, viola

Wanderings of the Mind While Attempting
to Ruminate on a Painting of Dali
Donald Crockett, conductor
USC Symphony

Banging(,) Pots & Pans
Eric Guinivan & Ben Phelps, marimbas

For excerpts of additional compositions,
please see the Compositions page.

A dedicated teacher, Miller is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Composition & Theory at Illinois State University. He previously served on the faculties of the University of Southern California, West Chester University of Pennsylvania and California Lutheran University; he also worked with high school students, leading after-school music education programs in Los Angeles, and from 2005-2006, taught guitar and coached rock bands for Camp Ballibay, a performing arts summer camp in Pennsylvania.

Miller holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Composition from the University of Southern California, a Master of Music in Composition from the Eastman School of Music, and Bachelor of Music degrees in Composition & Guitar Performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder, with additional studies in Max/MSP at UC Berkeley's Center for New Music & Audio Technology (CNMAT).

His works are published by HoneyRock Percussion Performance Literature (Pennsylvania) and VP Music Media (Italy).

Photo: Eric Guinivan, before the premiere of "Disappearance,"
Los Angeles Percussion Quartet, Chapman University, March 2012