Biography
Alex Nelson has been described as a dynamic and versatile musician, educator, composer, performer, and multidisciplinary artist, with a passion for inspiring creativity in his students and exploring connections between art and culture. With both a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Classical Guitar from University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Alex’s work seeks to blend intellectual art with play, merge highly crafted performance with improvisation, and find community in shared expression.
As both an active performer and teacher, Alex’s work routinely deals the intersection of art, culture, and activism. Having performed for world class artists such as Sergio Assad, nurtured and built teaching studios across North Carolina, and toured across the southeast, Alexander’s musical pursuits are diverse and complex, ranging from classical composition, to granular synthesis and sound design, to traditional African and Afro-Cuban hand drumming.
As a teacher, he focuses on guitar, piano, ukulele, and composition, with a focus on jazz, classical, folk, rock, pop, and blues styles. Having started his career in music as a self-taught teenager through “YouTube University,” he brings an empathy to the learning process that resonates with students and allows him to meet them where they are.
In addition to maintaining an active studio of over a dozen private students, Alex is currently Guitar Faculty and Assistant Instructor of Improvisation at Blue Ridge Suzuki Camp, Director of Musical Programming at Clapping Hands Farm, and former Teaching Artist for ArtistCorps. While in undergrad at UNCSA, he served as a TA for other undergraduates in ear training, providing 1-1 tutoring as well as preparing and deliering in-class lectures and assessments, and during his graduate study he served as the graduate assistant for the guitar studio, teaching private lessons, adapting existing curriculum, and leading studio masterclasses.
He is also a regular performer in various musical settings, including as lead guitarist of grunge band When We’re Sober, bassist for alternative neo-soul artist Tre. Charles, and keyboard/synth player for The Evergreen Collective. Additionally, he performs as a solo artist for private events, gets called to fill in with acts like cosmic country/Americana band Blue Cactus and experimental ambient electronic group Delver, and records original music of his own.
When not performing or teaching, he pursues other musical interests, acting as record producer, mixing engineer, arranger, and recording artist for various projects.