Alexis Alrich composes music that has been called "California Impressionism." She writes chamber, orchestral, vocal and dance music.

Alexis Alrich is a composer and pianist who has written orchestral, chamber and vocal music. Her music has been called "California Impressionism" for its use of instrumental and harmonic color. Her music, while rooted in the classical tradition, has been also influenced by Henry Cowell-style experimentalism, minimalism and Asian music.
Notable pieces include Island of the Blue Dolphins, for orchestra and narrator, which has been performed most recently by the Santa Barbara Symphony in June 2008, and Marimba Concerto which will be performed by the Plymouth Symphony in 2009. Her first orchestra piece, Avenues, was premiered by the Women?s Philharmonic and has since been played by several orchestras around the U.S. Island of the Blue Dolphins will soon be released on a CD of orchestral music for children called "Magical Tunes and Marvelous Tales."
She is one of the founding composer/members of the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, which has premiered eight of her pieces over the last six years, and is a pianist for the group.
Ms. Alrich has written a series of orchestral forest portraits called Fragile Forests. The first two in the series were California Oaks and Cambodia. Cambodia was premiered by the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra in March 2008 and will be played by the Oakland Civic Orchestra in spring 2009. She hopes to continue the series with portraits of Chinese forests.

Teaching
Director, John Adams Young Composers Program, Berkeley, California, 2007-present.
Composition and musicianship, Preparatory Division, S.F. Conservatory of Music, 1989-present.
Composition and musicianship, Extension Division, S.F. Conservatory of Music, 2000-present.
Music theory and composition, San Francisco Girls Chorus, 1991-1993.
Private composition, theory and piano instruction, 1976-present.

Composition Studies
Mills College, with Lou Harrison, Oakland, California. (Master of Arts, 1982.)
California Institute of the Arts, with Mel Powell, Valencia, California. (Bachelor of Arts, 1978.)
New England Conservatory of Music, with Malcolm Peyton, Boston, Massachusetts, 1973-76.

"Route 101" for string quartet
"Pick Me Up" for soprano, piano and viola
Fragile Forests I: California Oaks (chamber orchestra)
Fragile Forests II: Cambodia (chamber orchestra)
Blue Roses (violin, cello and fingercymblas), dance score for Charya Burt, Cambodian dancer
Marimba concerto in 3 movements
"Canoeing Silver Lake" for string quartet
"California Trees" for viola, cello and piano
"Trio Retro" for violin, cello and piano
"Night Air" for flute and piano
"Driving to Salt Lake" for clarinet, cello and piano