ALEXANDER CALVIN

20-year-old violinist Calvin Alexander has performed across the United States, Canada, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and South Korea. A top-prize winner of the Tibor Varga Junior, Cooper, and YoungArts competitions, he has appeared with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, Korean Chamber Orchestra, and Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Alexander has collaborated with Itzhak Perlman, David Shifrin, Vijay Iyer, and Andreas Brantelid at festivals including the Perlman Music Program, NUME, and Norfolk. 

Alexander is pursuing a bachelor’s at Harvard and a master’s at the New England Conservatory under Donald Weilerstein. Influential mentors include Itzhak Perlman, Catherine Cho, Jan Sloman, and the Brentano Quartet.

1. Was there a specific moment or experience that made you realize you wanted to become a musician?

1. I would not be a musician without the Perlman Music Program. PMP revealed to me how music is a force of love that cultivates connection and community, and I must share this love that was so generously shared with me.

2. When you perform, what do you hope to communicate or make the audience feel?

1. In performance, I care most about emotional vitality. Because music provides immediate access to human feeling in a way that language can only approach, I strive to explore the complexity of this feeling by being free, honest, vulnerable, and thoughtful. 

3. If you had to present yourself by playing a single piece from the entire repertoire,which one would you choose, and why?

1. An impossible question! It must be a work by Schubert. I find that his music both accepts and strives to resolve deep sorrow. While his music may never resolve this sorrow, his Trout Quintet comes close. Here, Schubert appeals to naïve, youthful joy to turn sorrow into solace. I try to live not only with Schubert’s deep sensitivity but also with this joyous optimism, even when it is difficult to do so.