Alexina Louie “Acclaimed composer Alexina Louie has collaborated with leading Canadian and international soloists, ensembles and orchestras. Her orchestral works have been performed by the San Francisco, Montreal, BBC, St. Louis, Toronto, and Vancouver symphony orchestras, as well as China’s NCPA Orchestra, Beijing, among others. Her compositions have been conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, Kent Nagano, Leonard Slatkin, Charles Dutoit, Pinchas Zukerman, and Ingo Metzmacher. Singers Barbara Hannigan and Russell Braun, violinist James Ehnes, and pianist Jon Kimura Parker are among the celebrated soloists who have performed her compositions.
Louie’s work spans a wide range of eclectic styles and technical demands, from her much loved pedagogical piano pieces to main stage opera (The Scarlet Princess), orchestral works, virtuosic chamber and solo compositions, as well as works for ballet, film and television. Her TV projects include the groundbreaking made-for-TV comedic mini-opera Toothpaste and the international award-winning collection of mini-operas, Burnt Toast (commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). For Louie, composing music is an act of communication. She freely explores various styles and differing inspirations to create music that reveals truths about the artistic spirit and the times in which we live.
An Officer of the Order of Canada, Alexina Louie has received numerous awards for her lifetime of music creation. Among many prizes, she is a recipient of multiple JUNO Awards, The Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize, The Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, The National Arts Centre Composers Award, The Chalmer’s Award in Composition, and The Jules Léger Prize for Chamber Music.”