9:00 a.m. Pre-Meeting
AIM Performance Volunteers and Judges’ Meeting
10:00 a.m. CAMTA BuSINESS MEETING
11:00 a.m. Professional Development Program
Alex McDonald, Founding Director, McDonald Music Studios, Artistic Director, Basically Beethoven Music Festival
Program Details Forthcoming
BIOGRAPHY
Since his orchestral debut at age 11, pianist Alex McDonald has soloed with the Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de Mexico, the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and the Utah Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has performed across the United States as well as in Israel, Mexico, Canada, Japan, and South Korea; additionally, he has been a featured performer on PBS, WRR, NPR, and WQXR. Awards and fellowships include second prize at the 2007 New Orleans International Piano Competition and second prize at the 2001 Gina Bachauer International Young Artist Piano Competition. In 2008, he was named a Harvey Fellow by the Mustard Seed Foundation. He was a participant in the 2013 Van Cliburn Competition. Active as a chamber musician, McDonald’s recent program "Music for Animals" (collaborating with Cathy Lysinger and Andrey Ponochevny) was hailed by Theater Jones as one of its "Concerts of the Year" for 2016.
Dr. McDonald is currently the festival director for Basically Beethoven, a thriving summer concert series in downtown Dallas’ Arts District. He has taught at Texas Woman’s University, Richland College as well as at the Juilliard School, where he also was a Teaching Fellow for both the Literature and Materials and Piano Minor departments. Additionally, his private piano students have been admitted to Juilliard and Eastman, and have performed at Carnegie's Weill Hall and on WRR. Texas Music Teacher’s Association recently awarded him the 2017 Outstanding Achievement Award in teaching. Deeply concerned about a healthy integration of life with music, he has actively pursued community formation both as an R.A. in the Juilliard residence hall and as president of Juilliard Christian Fellowship.
Dr. McDonald received his pre-college training under Lois Nielson, his bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory with Academic Honors and Distinction in Performance under Russell Sherman, and his master’s and doctoral degrees from Juilliard under Yoheved Kaplinsky and Julian Martin. His doctoral document, a source study on manuscripts and editions for Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor, has been cited in the most recent edition of the sonata by Alfred Publishers, edited by Nancy Bricard.
Alex McDonald and his wife Rachel sometimes play chamber music together, and their artistic collaboration also includes a really cute little boy named Micah, who has his mother's eyes and his daddy's hair, and Ella Joy McDonald… who also has his mother’s eyes and his daddy’s hair.