Dr. Alex Wier is a percussion artist and music educator based in Chicago and Milwaukee. He has presented solo recitals and clinics at numerous universities around the United States. He has also performed with a number of professional orchestras, such as the Phoenix Symphony, Arizona Opera, Tucson Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, and Crested Butte Music Festival Orchestra. A strong advocate of new music, Alex has commissioned several percussion works and has performed regularly with contemporary ensembles including Fifth House Ensemble, Atlas Percussion, Beyond This Point, Crossing 32nd Street, and the Arizona Contemporary Music Ensemble. He has also performed and presented his research at the Percussive Arts Society, College Music Society, The Midwest Clinic, and Balance-Unbalance conferences.
Alex is currently the Percussion Area Head at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Adjunct Faculty at Phoenix College. From 2013-2015, Alex was the instructor of the Percussion Methods course and undergraduate percussion lessons at Arizona State University. He also served as the President of the Arizona Percussive Arts Society Chapter from 2012 to 2013. Alex has been the recipient of several grants and scholarships, including the ASU JumpStart Research Grant, Shandel Education Plus Grant, and the PAS Armand Zildjian Scholarship, that assisted his creative projects and funded his attendance at various seminars and festivals around the United States and his fieldwork abroad.
Alex earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Arizona State University, a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University, and a Bachelors in Music Performance from the University of Arizona. His teachers have included J.B. Smith, Simone Mancuso, She-e Wu, James Ross, Gary Cook, Norman Weinberg, Michael Vercelli, and Dom Moio. Alex is an endorser of Marimba One marimbas and Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets.