Alexander Frey

Alexander Frey
Alexander Frey conducting
Background information
Occupation(s)	Conductor, pianist, organist, harpsichordist, composer, recording artist.
Labels	Koch International Classics, eOne Music, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, RCA Red Seal, Bach Guild

Alexander Frey is an American symphony orchestra conductor, virtuoso organist, pianist, harpsichordist and composer. Frey is in great demand as one of the world's most versatile conductors, and enjoys great success in the concert hall and opera house, and in the music of Broadway and Hollywood.

In addition to his regular appearances as a conductor on major concert series, Frey is very frequently called upon to replace conductors who have canceled their engagements, often at the last minute, and is known for being able to completely learn entire concert programs virtually overnight and follow with performances of great depth.

In January 2008, during an interview broadcast on Radio Cairo while conducting in Egypt, Frey stated that "Music is a peaceful island in a river of sadness."

Frey has been described as "a witty, urbane figure whose wide-ranging genius and charisma shine both in his performances on the concert stage and in conversation offstage". Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Studs Terkel referred to him as "a Renaissance Man". In a later interview in The Guardian celebrating his 95th birthday, Terkel discussed his own "diverse and idiosyncratic taste in music, from Bob Dylan to Alexander Frey, Louis Armstrong to Woodie Guthrie". Frey has also been called "a raconteur, a young Oscar Levant" by American writer and Prairie Home Companion host Garrison Keillor, "his generation's Noël Coward", and that "he seems like a classic character from the golden age of the Broadway musical".

In recent years, he has taken to playing his solo recitals with a lamp next to or on the piano providing the only stage light (and often the only lighting in the concert hall as well), and an oriental rug underneath the instrument to "create an intimacy between my audience and the music, as if everyone were in my living room listening together".