BIOGRAPHY
Always Interpreting and Creating
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Alexandre J. Eisenberg is a virtuoso composer and flutist known for his championing of new music in Brazil, the USA and abroad. From 2014 to 2018 Mr. Eisenberg has also worked as conductor and co-director of the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM) Symphony Orchestra. After two temporary positions as substitute professor of music theory and chamber music at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) School of Music, he was appointed professor of music (2006) at the UFSM Music Department, where he currently teaches music composition and analysis.
Mr. Eisenberg’s music is published by Schott (Germany) and Orphee/Theodore Presser (USA), and regularly performed in the USA, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, Colombia, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Austria, China and Japan. He has won three international composition prizes, namely the 3rd edition of the Rodrigo Riera International Guitar Composition Competition (Caracas, Venezuela, 1999) for his Prelude, Chorale and Fugue, the Colloque International de Basson bassoon composition prize (Angoulême, France, 2005) for his piece Megalogadron, and the Miami GuitART Festival International Composition Competition (Miami, USA, 2019) for his piece Pentalogia. In addition to these, he was awarded the Dean’s Prize in Chamber Music at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (2005) for his Concerto for Viola and Chamber Orchestra.
Mr. Eisenberg has participated in several editions of the Brazilian Contemporary Music Biennale as composer, flutist and composition competition juror and had works commissioned by the Bank of Brazil Premieres Festival, the Brazilian Flute Association and prominent individual performers such as guitarists Nicolas Barros and Fabio Adour, clarinetist Jorge Montilla and violist Yuval Gotlibovitch. Mr. Eisenberg’s music has been recorded by the Clarinet Classics and Indiana University labels, and performed by musicians of the caliber of clarinetist Jorge Montilla, bassoonist Noël Devos, violist Yuval Gotlibovitch, violinist Ben Sung, guitarists Fabio Adour, Renato Serrano and Nicolas Barros, pianists Winston Choi, Rainer Klaas, Jordi Torrent, Tim Carey, Ney Fialkow and Taiur Fontana, the Ohrwärmer Duo (Austria), flutists Qiao Zhang (China-Spain) and Rogerio Wolf (Brazil), the Amazonia String Quartet (Brazil), as well as the Amazonas Philharmonic (Manaus, Brazil), the Indiana University New Music Ensemble (USA), The Brazilian National Symphony (Niterói, Brazil), the Bachiana Orchestra (RJ, Brazil), the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Symphony Orchestra (Brazil), among others.
As a flutist Mr. Eisenberg’s career ranges from solo to chamber to orchestra. He was principal flutist with the Amazonas Philharmonic (Manaus, AM, Brazil) and guest flutist with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra (OSB), the Rio de Janeiro Opera Orchestra (OSTM), the [Brazilian] National Symphony Orchestra (OSN) and the Bachiana Orchestra. He has also played as a soloist with the Amazonas Philharmonic, the São Pedro Theatre Orchestra, the Brazilian Conservatory Chamber Orchestra and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Symphony Orchestra. As a chamber player, he has collaborated with pianists Nariaki Sugiura, Tim Carey, Silas Barbosa, Miriam Grosman, Sara Cohen, Vera Vianna, Germano Mayer, Guilherme Goldberg and others, with guitarists Renato Serrano, Fabio Adour, Nicolas Barros, José Francisco Dias da Cruz and others, with clarinetist Diego Grendene and Guilherme Garbosa, trumpetist Clayton Miranda and fellow flutists Qiao Zhang, Eduardo Monteiro, Raanan Eylon, Artur Elias, Murilo Barquette, among others. His chamber and solo recitals along the years have included many premieres of Brazilian and North-American composers as well as his own music and transcriptions. His flute recordings include new music by Brazilian composers Guilherme Bauer and Roberto Victorio.
As a conductor Mr. Eisenberg had an early start with the Akko Youth Wind Orchestra (Israel, 1989). Then, after occasional conducting of his own music along his composing and performing career, he was invited (2014) to conduct the Federal University of Santa Maria Symphony Orchestra (Brazil), where he has interpreted new music by prominent Brazilian composers, including UFSM faculty and students, in addition to the traditional repertoire.
As a professor/academic, Mr. Eisenberg was a co-creator of the UFSM composition program and is a devoted composition teacher and student orchestra conductor. His current academic activities include the teaching of individual composition classes, composition seminars, analysis and composition pedagogy. His past activities included the teaching of flute performance, chamber music, orchestral practice, counterpoint and harmony.
His education includes a DM (Doctor of Music degree) in composition from Indiana University (USA), where he studied with Sven-David Sandström, Don Freund, Sydney Hodkinson and P. Q. Phan; a MA (Master of Arts degree) in composition from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ, Brazil) under Prof. Marisa Rezende; and a BA (Bachelor of Arts degree) in flute performance from the UFRJ under Profs. Celso Woltzenlogel, Lenir Siqueira and Eduardo Monteiro. OSB flutist Carlos Alberto Rodrigues was responsible for his first transverse flute education and he took sporadic, but very important flute lessons with principal OSB flutist Renato Axelrud, legendary Swiss flutist Aurèle Nicolet and American-Israeli flutists Hanokh Tel-Oren and Raanan Eylon.
Mr. Eisenberg is married to Brazilian visual artist Maristela Moraes.