Alex Prior (born in 1992 in the United Kingdom) is a composer and conductor. He is the great-great grandson of actor and director Konstantin Stanislavsky, and was one of the youngest students in the history of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. As of 2007, he has written over 40 pieces of music, including full symphonies, sonatas and jazz suites. He was born in London to a Russian mother and a British father. He started composing at the age of 8. He wrote the score and conducted the debut performance of his own ballet Mowgli, based on The Jungle Book, at the New Opera in Moscow on June 19, 2007 as part of the Moscow Summer Ballet Festival. [1] [2]
References
- ^ "Ballet Debut", Moscow Times, Friday, June 15, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-21. "Natalia Kasatkina and Vladimir Vasilyev both loved Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" as children. So when, decades later, they decided to choreograph a ballet based on the story, they turned to a composer who could vividly feel the book's enchantment: a child. Of course, composer Alex Prior is no ordinary 14-year-old boy. As one of the youngest students in the history of St. Petersburg's Conservatory, he has written over 40 pieces of music, including full symphonies, sonatas and jazz suites. Born in London to a Russian mother and a British father, he started composing at the age of 8, but his penchant for music became clear when he was just a toddler."
- ^ "British teenager scores Russian ballet coup", The Guardian, June 19, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-21. "A British schoolboy is to conduct a performance of his own music for a ballet at Moscow's prestigious New Opera tonight. Alex Prior, 14, has written a score based on The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, for a full orchestra. Obsessed with music since the age of three, Alex has already laid claim to being the youngest ever conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican in London."
