MUSE • Musicians United for Social Equity

Biography

Alex Irwin (he/him) is a composer, violinist, and tenor from Norman, Oklahoma, who recently graduated with his Master’s of Music Degree in Composition at Carnegie Mellon University. His compositions have been commissioned by the University of Oklahoma Men’s Glee Club, the OU School of Music voice faculty, the OU School of Drama, the Sooner Theatre, and Mariachi Orgullo de America and his work has been featured internationally at the 2023 International Music Festival of the Adriatic in Italy and Slovenia. He recently premiered a workshop reading of Roundabouts: The Musical, a new indie-folk musical written by him and his long-time collaborator Chris Renaud at Carnegie Mellon University. He and Renaud performed a selection from this show at the New Work Slam hosted by the CMU Center for New Work. 

Other recent projects include Once, There Was a Star, a musical theater Christmas cantata written with Chris Renaud and premiered at Grace Presbyterian Church in Kittaning, PA; music and arrangements for Ritchie: The Day Before the Music Died, a new play by Dr. Robert Con Davis-Undiano premiered at the University of Oklahoma; music and lyrics for Paradise Profound, a new work premiered at the Carnegie Mellon Playground festival; workshop readings with NAT 28, the Akropolis Reed Quintet, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra string quintet; and premieres of Quartet for An Apsiring Gymrat with The Foglamp Quartet, “Our Great Escape” with the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic Orchestra, and “The Voice of the Sea” with the CMU D-flat Singers. 

Upcoming projects include a workshop reading of his new show, Benji & The Sages, with the Sooner Theatre, and the touring of The Narrative Composition Project, a multimedia composition/education initiative that bridges writing, acting, and musical composition to generate and perform short-form, narrative-centric, chamber pieces focused on identity.

Outside of composing, Alex performs as a violinist with Mariachi Orgullo de America and the Irish band Puffins in the Kitchen, and as a singer in his solo pop project Alex ByTrade | alexirwincomposer.com.