Alexander Jiménez

Alexander Jiménez is a contemporary American percussionist and conductor known for his dedication to performing the works of living composers. He is also a highly respected educator associated with Florida State University. Jiménez was born in Chicago in 1963, and both of his parents were singers. They sang in the Chicago Symphony Chorus and the Lyric Opera, and they encouraged their son to pursue music as well. He began studying the piano when he was six years old, and after a few years he moved with his family to Odessa, Texas, where he played percussion in the school band. He discovered his love for conducting in the seventh grade, when he saw Frederick Fennell conduct at the West Texas State Band Camp. After he graduated high school, Jiménez continued his studies in percussion at Baylor University, and he took conducting lessons with Michael Haithcock. The following year, he started working as a percussionist in the Waco Symphony in addition to his educational pursuits. After his graduation from Baylor, he moved to Florida, and from 1985 to 1989 he completed the graduate percussion performance program at Florida State University. He performed with many different professional ensembles in Florida around this time, including the Jacksonville Symphony and the Florida Philharmonic, and he was appointed timpanist of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra. Jiménez was in high demand as an orchestral percussionist, but his career began to shift to conducting. He became the conductor of the Palm Beach Atlantic University Orchestra in 1991, and he directed a church choir. He continued in a dual career as a percussionist and a conductor through the mid-'90s, and in 1997 he returned to FSU, where he earned his doctorate in orchestral conducting in 1999. He was also appointed director of orchestral activities at the San Francisco State University. Later in 2000, he became the music director of the Tallahassee Youth Orchestras, and he accepted the position of Director of Orchestral Activities and Professor of Conducting at the Florida State University. Under his leadership, the FSU college of music has become one of the top music schools in the U.S. Jiménez is also a champion for new music and has conducted premieres of several works by living composers, such as Krzysztof Penderecki, Anthony Iannaccone, and John Harbison. As a guest conductor, he has performed and recorded with several major ensembles in Europe and the U.S. He conducted the Brno Philharmonic on the first recording of Ladislav Kubik's Piano Concerto No. 3, which appeared on the 2011 release Ladislav Kubik: Sinfoniettas Nos. 1 & 3; Piano Concerto No. 3. Other important recordings include Dohnányi: Symphony No. 2; Two Songs from 2014, and Ladislav Kubík: Flashes of Light from 2016. He also appeared on the album Anthony Iannaccone: Looking Back, Moving On from 2023, as conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra on Night Rivers, Symphony No. 3, and Bridges, Symphony No. 4, which was commissioned for and by Jiménez and the Florida State University Orchestra. He has collaborated with artists from other genres, such as Marcus Roberts, Scotty Barnhart, and the Canadian Brass. Jiménez continues in his roles with the FSU, and in 2021 he became the artistic director of the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, in Michigan.
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