Alexander Howard is currently a student of classical composition (BM exp. ‘26) at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, studying under Dr. J. Mark Stambaugh. Alexander has a deep and abiding appreciation for nature – with it often being the starting place and coloristic basis of his harmonies. He also is in love with how the instruments sound, finding ways to bend the sound of the instruments to make the music “melt”, “shimmer”, “muggy”, or even “stormy”, with the intention to make the music a landscape for the listener to dwell within, and re-experience their own memories and experiences from within. He has worked with many ensembles in the past, including The Rhythm Method Quartet, Duo Gelland, ViMaDeAn Duo, members of ECI Hidden Valley Summer Intensive (Tien-Hsin Cindy Wu, Eunice Kim, and David Samuel), Confluss, Members of Mostly Modern Festival, and is set to have a work premiered at Highland High School, in Gilbert, AZ, by the Highland Advanced Woodwind Choir. He has attended some summer festivals, including Longy Divergent Studio, with masterclasses from Alex Mincek, John Morrison, Matthew Evan Taylor, and Alexandra du Bois; Lake George Composer’s Institute, with masterclasses from Alyssa Weinberg and David T. Little; Emerging Composers Institute at Hidden Valley, with masterclasses from Nick Diberardino, Alistair Coleman, and Wang Jie; and Del Mar Composers Symposium, with masterclasses from Polina Nazaykinskaya, Jordan Kuspa, and Martin Bresnick. In addition, he came in 2nd place for the 8SW Composition Competition in 2024, and was one of three to win an MSM Composition Prize to write for Confluss in their 2024-2025 season. Alexander maintains an active performing career at the Manhattan School of Music, where he performs and studies in the studio of Dr. Paul Cohen. He is most active performing on the Baritone Saxophone (in the MSM Saxophone Orchestra), Soprano Saxophone, and Contrabass Saxophone.