Album Notes

Alexander Doan is a professionally trained performer and composer with experience in both film music and the concert stage. His use of melody, harmony, instrumentation and knowledge of film music aesthetics, have become a staple in his career.

Demonstrating his melodic approach to composition, he has also composed a series of concert works based on the poetry of Edgar Allen Poe, using Poe’s words as both the inspiration and the backdrop for the music. Alexander is also currently working on an opera based on Poe’s life, and is using the poetry as the story’s libretto.

Alexander’s hands-on approach to production has afforded him a diversity of style, including orchestral music, jazz, electronic, choral ensembles, as well as producing, orchestrating and conducting his own work. This hands-on approach was made useful as he composed and orchestrated the music, and conducted the York Symphony Orchestra in the making of the film, The Tale of Gabriel Grub.

As a concert stage composer, his work encompasses from chamber groups to solo instruments and orchestra.

As a performer, he is an award-winning clarinetist, saxophonist, flautist and pianist, and has performed solo works by Mozart and Stamitz with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra in 2000 and 2001. He has received First Place awards in the Kiwanis Music Festivals (’94, ’95), as well as scholarships from Wilfred Laurier University and the Kiwanis Music Festival. In 1995, Alexander received a Gold Standing for the national Music Fest Canada Competition and received an honorary award for his achievements from Niagara Falls Mayor, Wayne Thompson.

Alexander is a conscientious and dedicated individual. He believes in role models, and as a result, has personally met renowned Canadian composers Michael Conway Baker, Phil Nimmons, and Hollywood Film Composer John Williams.

In December, 2006, Alexander was officially accepted into the Guild of Canadian Film Composers (GCFC), and became a member of The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN).

Alexander is a graduate of Mohawk College, studying composition, orchestration, conducting and performance and studied composition at York University in Toronto.