Alex Wier is a percussion artist and music educator with a diverse background in performance and teaching. He has presented solo recitals and clinics at numerous universities around the United States and performed with professional orchestras including the Milwaukee Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Arizona Opera, Tucson Symphony, Omaha Symphony, and Wisconsin Philharmonic. A strong advocate of new music, Alex has also commissioned many new percussion works and performed regularly with contemporary music ensembles including Fifth House Ensemble, Present Music, Romex Duo, Atlas Percussion, Cross//Hatch, Beyond This Point, Crossing 32nd Street, and the Arizona Contemporary Music Ensemble.
Alex is the Assistant Professor of Percussion and Percussion Area Head at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where he teaches applied percussion lessons, percussion methods, percussion history and literature, and is the Director of the Percussion Ensemble, Steel PANthers Steel Band, Marimba Band, and the UWM Youth Percussion Ensemble Program. He is also Adjunct Faculty at Phoenix College where he is the instructor of an online Rock Music and Culture course. Outside of school instruction, Alex has interacted with diverse student populations as a clinician, adjudicator, and active member of ensembles that have focused on community outreach. He also serves on the Technology Committee and the Diversity Alliance of the Percussive Arts Society in addition to serving as the President of the Arizona PAS Chapter from 2012 to 2013.
Alex has performed and presented his research at a variety of conferences including the Balance-Unbalance, Listen(n) Symposium, Percussive Arts Society, and Midwest Clinic international conferences and the College Music Society National Conference. He has articles published in Percussive Notes and Rhythm! Scene, both publications of the Percussive Arts Society, as well as recordings on New Amsterdam, Summit, and Albany Records. He has also been the recipient of many grants and scholarships that supported his creative projects and travel for fieldwork and presentations that include the UWM Advancing Research and Creativity Grant, ASU JumpStart Research Grant, Henderson Endowment Fund, Shandel Education Plus Grant, and the PAS Armand Zildjian Scholarship.
As a composer and arranger, Alex has written percussion solo and ensemble works for a variety of percussion instruments. His original composition for steel pan ensemble, Intown, won third prize in the James P. and Shirley J. O'Brien Endowment Composition Competition in 2014. His most recent work is centered on the utilization of live electronics with percussion instruments. Several of his works are published and available through Elision Publications.
Alex earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Arizona State University and his culminating project was titled "Performer and Electronic-Activated Acoustics: Three New Works for Solo Percussion and Live Electronics." Alex also holds a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University and a Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from the University of Arizona. Alex is an endorser of Marimba One marimbas and Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets in addition to being a member of the Black Swamp Percussion Educator Network.
