As an emerging composer, Alex works to integrate contemporary, popular, and jazz languages into his music.  He often looks for ways to incorporate improvisation and performer agency, questioning and altering the role of the composer particularly through notation.  Primarily, Alex arranges and composes for the Hickey-Shanafelt 9ollective, a jazz nonet he co-founded with trumpeter Kent Hickey, with the mission of expanding the modern jazz repertoire and connecting with the local Indianapolis community through original music. The 9ollective has enjoyed performances across Indiana, including the historic McGowan Hall, Merriman’s Playhouse, and the Jazz Kitchen.  The group also recently released their debut album "illuminate" which features two of Alex's works, Unequivocally and the title track Illuminate. Alex frequently seeks out collaborative and interdisciplinary projects, and he is currently working closely with Indianapolis-based dance company Ballet INitiative to create new works involving contemporary dance and electronics, including Meditation I and Nylon Variations. Alex was recently named a finalist in the ASCAP Foundation’s Morton Gould Young Composer Awards Competition, and received a merit award for the Tribeca New Music Young Composer Competition. He was also a selectee for the Jazz Education Network’s 2023 Young Composer Showcase for his work, Unequivocally. Alex’s newest compositions include Bomba and the arrangement of Mary Lou William’s St. Martin de Porres, both works for the 9ollective, and is currently working on a new piece for saxophone quartet titled Brass Topiary.

Apart from composition, Alex is a co-founder of the Contemporary Art Music Project (CAMP), a nonprofit organization that promotes innovative new music by collaborating with living composers and performing artists from around the world.  Recently, he helped organize and administrate the nonprofit’s inaugural event, CAMPGround22, a 3-day music festival in Tampa and St. Petersburg, FL featuring world-class, international musicians. Furthermore, he is leading the development of a collaborative, multi-disciplinary undergraduate education program called The Artist Orchard. 

Alex attended Butler University in Indianapolis, IN where he received a BM in Music Composition under the mentorship of Michael Schelle, James Aikman, and Frank Felice, and recently graduated from the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL with a MM in Music Composition under Benjamin D. Whiting and Paul Reller, along with jazz instruction from Chuck Owen.  He currently lives in Indianapolis with his partner Brandon, accompanied by Oz, Bomba, and Basi, their cat and dogs.