Born in 1985, Alex Mathias has come a long way since being taught his first chords on the guitar by his father at the tender age of 8. After a short period of studying piano, Alex eventually discovered the saxophone at his school when he was 12 years old. A year later he received a scholarship to the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. At the age of 17, he attended the Berklee College Of Music (USA) Summer Program on a scholarship and during this time received another scholarship to study full time. Alex spent three years at Berklee studying performance, composition, arranging, and music therapy and received tuition from heavy weight saxophonists Joe Lovano and George Garzone among other great teachers. While at Berklee, Alex was presented the Division Achievement Award for Outstanding Musicianship.
After graduating with a Bachelor of Music at the age of 21, Alex returned to Ireland and has since been making an impression on the Irish music scene. Still only 25 years old, he has played with a variety of different groups both nationally and internationally, including The Commitments, RTE Concert Orchestra, Dublin City Jazz Orchestra, The Republic of Loose and many other groups of all genres. He has shared the stage with high profile musicians Claire Martin, Mary Coughlin, Shane MacGowan, Dana, Johnny Logan and Amy Winehouse and has performed with many of Ireland’s leading jazz musicians. Alex also works as a session musician and has played on recordings with Eleanor McEvoy, Paul Brady and Jack Lukeman and has made TV appearances on Ireland’s ‘The Late Late Show’, ‘Tubridy Tonight’ and ‘Nationwide’. Alex has performed in over a dozen countries worldwide including Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Italy, France, Spain, Switzerland, Netherlands, UK, America and Canada.
Alex is also a prolific composer and regularly performs his own music in Dublin with The Alex Mathias Quartet. He also teaches jazz improvisation privately at his home in Bray. You can hear Alex’s music and find contact information through his website www.alexmathias.com.
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