Overview
Papalexandri (b. 1974) is a composer and sound artist based in Switzerland and the United States. Interweaving the borderlines between sound and visual objects, Papalexandri creates works of simplicity, elegance, and personal charisma. She is especially interested in how resonant surfaces and friction work and how physical materials can be arranged to act like living things.
Papalexandri’s sculptural installations and compositions have been presented internationally at institutions such as the Museum Haus Konstruktiv in Zurich; Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin; Kunstmuseum Basel; MuDA Museum of Digital Art in Zurich; Ashmolean Museum in Oxford; Museum of Musical Instruments in Berlin; ISEA, Hong Kong; Tokyo Art Fair; Japan Art Media; Art Taipei; Gallery Denise Rene in Paris; Mazzoli Gallery in Berlin; Anhava Gallery in Helsinki; Standing Pine Gallery in Nagoya; ARCO Madrid; Kunstmuseum Stuttgart; Kunsthal Aarhus Biennale Disegno in Rimini; the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne; Otto Sound Museum in Zurich; Donaueschingen Festival/Museum Art.Plus, Germany; the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, USA; the Otto Sound Museum, Switzerland and the Venice Biennale of Architecture. Papalexandri's work is represented in private collections, such as the EMMA, Finland's Espoo Museum of Modern Art, the University of Zurich ETH, and the Kanton of Zurich.
Papalexandri is the first composer and sound artist to be honored with the Aurelie Nemours Award, recognizing her groundbreaking solo creations and collaborative works with longtime partner and kinetic artist Pe Lang. Her accolades also include the Werkbeiträge des Kantons Zürich im Bereich Bildende Kunst, the Dan David Prize for Contemporary Music, the International IMPULS Composition Award, the Berlin Kulturelle Angelegenheiten Award, and the 2020 Cornell Biennial Award, among others. Papalexandri has been honored with numerous grants from ProHelvetia, the Ernst von Siemens Foundation, the Ministry of Science and Art, Baden-Württemberg, the Irish Arts Council Grant, the Swedish Arts Council, and the City of Berlin, among others. Papalexandri was nominated as artist-in-residence at the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart; the EMS studio in Stockholm; the Villa Concordia in Bamberg; the Cluster of Excellence Image Knowledge Gestaltung, an interdisciplinary lab at the Humboldt-University of Berlin; the Instrument Inventors Institute in The Hague, and St. John's College at the University of Oxford.
Papalexandri creates innovative instrumental structures that require more than one player. These instruments cannot be played privately; their function relies on collective effort, making each player’s connection to the instrument intertwined with their relationship with the other performers. By inviting both performers and audiences to engage in a shared, equal-labor experience of sound, these instruments encourage a sense of togetherness and collective effort. She also combines motorized devices with breakable, fragile organic materials, programming with materials and relying on their behavior rather than computer processes, emphasizing pure acoustic sound. This approach highlights the aging of materials and challenges our imagination of what an instrument can be.
Papalexandri’s music has been commissioned and premiered worldwide by ensembles and soloists such as Neue Vocalsolisten, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble SurPlus, Ensemble Mosaik, Chamber Curious Players, Yarn/Wire, Ensemble Dal Niente, Ensemble Scenatet, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Wet Ink Ensemble, Quartet New Generation, Orkest de Volharding, the London Improvisers Orchestra, the Hellenic Ensemble of Contemporary Music, Ensemble dissonArt, Hidden Mother, Ensemble This/Ensemble That, Karin Hellqvist, Ross Karre, Steven Schick, Justin Dehart, Rhodri Davies, Ernst Surberg, Erik Drescher, Séverine Ballon, among others. Her music has been featured in major festivals and venues such as the Donaueschingen Festival; MaerzMusik Festival, Berlin; the ISCM World Music Days, Stuttgart; Ultrashall, Berlin; ZKM, Karlsruhe; impuls, Graz; De Bijloke, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; Dialogue Festival, Salzburg; Carlsbad Music Festival, Los Angeles; ECLAT Festival, Stuttgart; SPOR Festival, Aarhus; Audiograft Festival, Oxford; Concertgebouw Brugge; Athens Concert Hall; Tzlil Meudcan Festival, Tel Aviv; Darmstadt; Gaudeamus Festival, Amsterdam; Issue Project Room, New York; Wien Modern and MATA New York. From 1999 to 2009, she was an active improviser, performing with Eddie Prevost, Simon Vincent, Rob Wannamaker, John Lely, Sebastian Lexer, Seymour Wright, Steve Beresford, and others.
Papalexandri obtained her BMus degree in music and MMus degree in composition from Goldsmiths College, University of London. Following postgraduate studies and research at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna (2008), she completed her doctoral studies in music composition (Ph.D.) at the University of California, San Diego (2008).
Papalexandri is an Assistant Professor of Music Composition and currently serves as the Milstein Faculty Fellow at Cornell University, where she joined the Department of Music in August 2016.
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Due to the high volume of inquiries, Prof. Papalexandri-Alexandri does not provide feedback, conduct interviews, offer lessons, or hold meetings with prospective advisees prior to the official departmental application review. She will, however, be happy to review submissions during the designated evaluation period.
Research Focus
- composition
- sound art
Publications
- Correspondences by Papalexandri & Ouzounian, Current Musicology, Columbia University Department of Music, Issue Spring 2014. Editor: David Gutkin.
- Das Instrument neu erfinden, Positionen 84, texte zur aktuellen Musik. Translated by G. Nauck 2010
- Still life, Notations 21- Anthology of Innovative Notation by T. Tisano (N.Y Mark Batty Publisher)
- Amplifying the physical gesture, RTRSRCH 4 journal. Editor: Paul Craenen
- Distanz, performative kinetic sound installation for Séverine Ballon. Commissioned by ECLAT Festival 2018, Stuttgart, Germany.
- Contact for amplified motors, pins and sound panels. Commissioned by the Swedish Arts Council and Curious Chamber Players.
- modular | n°2 – speaking of membranes. Commissioned by Donaueschingen Festival 2017
- Duo for motors and percussion. Commissioned by the Swedish Arts Council and Hidden Mother 2016
- Solo for motors and strings. Commissioned by Ernst Von Siemens Foundation/ Ultima Festival 2016
- Speaking of Membranes, kinetic sound sculpture. Commissioned by the city of Montfort-sur-Meu
- Untitled VI, sound installation for three male voices. Commissioned by Neue Vocalsolisten 2014
- Quartet for Motors and Resonant Bodies. Commissioned by ensemble Yarn/Wire 2013
- Untiled V, sound installation. Commissioned by SPOR Festival, Aarhus, Denmark 2013
- Solo for Motors and Resonant Body. Commissioned by x track production 2012
- Untitled IV, quartet for prepare recorders and sound devices. Commissioned by QNG and Ultraschall Festival 2012
- Untitled III, solo for piano and sound devices. Commissioned by Fredrik Croene 2011
- Operator for ensemble and sound devices. Commissioned by Ensemble Mosaik 2010
- Untitled I for flute and sound devices. Commissioned by the Swedish Electronic Music Studio 2008
- Reciprocal for 11 instrumentalists. Commissioned by Klangforum Wien for the Impuls Prize 2008
- Warten, solo for self-constructed instruments. Commissioned by Wien Modern Festival 2008
- Yarn for seven instrumentalists. Commissioned by IMD for the Kranichstein Musik Award 2008
In the news
- Art + tech exhibit looking for student work
- Papalexandri wins award from the Canton of Zurich
- ‘Bending’ to create homemade musical instruments
- NYC Visioning projects host cross-campus events
- Six projects receive Innovative Teaching and Learning Awards
- Cornell funds projects in NYC visioning initiative
- Cornell hosts Switch Ensemble residency
- Music prof premieres work in Germany
MUSIC Courses - Fall 2024
- MUSIC 4412 : Making Sound Futures
- MUSIC 4901 : Independent Study in Music
- MUSIC 4911 : Honors in Music
- MUSIC 6412 : Making Sound Futures
- MUSIC 7111 : Composition
- MUSIC 7901 : Independent Study in Music