Alexander Jiménez has collaborated and recorded with today’s leading artists including Lynn Harrell, Denyce Graves, Phillipe Entremont, Christopher O’Riley, NEXUS, and the Canadian Brass.
A champion of music from our time, Jiménez has worked with such luminary composers as Ellen Taafe Zwilich, John Harbison, Martin Bresnick, Chen Yi, and Krystof Penderecki. Through the Commission Project Jiménez commissioned Emmy award-winning composer Jeff Beal to compose new music to Buster Keaton’s film “The General” which was then performed live with film and recorded to DVD. Dr. Jiménez was seen recently conducting Ellen Zwilich’s Peanuts Gallery on national television broadcast on PBS.
Since 2000 Jiménez has been music director and conductor of the Florida State Philharmonia and the Florida State Symphony Orchestra. As director of orchestral activities at the Florida State University, he leads one of the nation’s most important professional orchestral training programs.
He has held music directorships with the Palm Beach Atlantic Symphony, the San Francisco State University Symphony, and the Tallahassee Symphony Youth Orchestras. As a guest conductor, Jiménez has worked with the New York City-based EKKO, the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra, the Florida State Chamber Orchestra, and the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra. He is in demand nationally as a clinician and adjudicator and can be heard on recordings with the Canadian Broadcast Company Ovation Series and on Col Legno.
Dr. Jiménez holds degrees from Florida State University and Baylor University. His primary studies were in percussion performance and orchestral conducting, with secondary areas in musicology and piano. His principal conducting teachers were Phillip Spurgeon and Michael Haithcock. Additional studies included work with Larry Rachlef, Christopher Wilkins, and the late Anton Guadagno. As a percussionist, Jiménez studied with former Cleveland Orchestra timpanist Cloyd Duff and with Gary Werdesheim.
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
“Orchestra music director Alexander Jiménez led the orchestra in a compelling performance of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. Jiménez emphasized the discontinuities in Mahler’s discourse to great effect, without sacrificing the integrity of the large musical argument. A good example of this was the powerful climax of the third movement, which serves as the climax of the work as a whole.” Tallahassee Democrat, April 2006
“Because Alex Jimenez has conducted several of my works, including ‘Peanuts Gallery’ for piano and orchestra (in a PBS show that aired nationwide) and ‘Rituals’ for 5 percussionists and orchestra, I perhaps have a unique perspective on his work. When he has conducted my work I have found Alex to be a strong and charismatic conductor who can get inside the score, convey his excitement to the players, and raise the level of performance with each rehearsal. As a former professional orchestral violinist (with the American Symphony under Leopold Stokowski) I have further appreciation for his ability to bring out the best in an orchestra and to communicate his vision to an audience.” – Ellen Zwilich, eminent American composer.
“NEXUS played Ellen Taffe Zwilich’s ‘Rituals for Five Percussionists and Orchestra’(2002) with Alexander Jiménez conducting. After a brief meeting prior to our first rehearsal, we were convinced that Alex had the work in hand and that our collaboration was going to prove fruitful.
"‘Rituals . . .’ requires precise articulations, long fluid lines, steady and flexible tempos; all balanced by sensitive listening to solo instruments not commonly heard by musicians.
Alex maintains discipline and control while letting musician enthusiasms percolate: this is the art of music. Under Alex’s direction the music had the expansive freedom touring musicians long for but seldom get and the concert was thrilling.”- Robin Engelman, Member of Nexus, The International Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame
“A crowd of 10,000 music lovers filled the natural amphitheater at Tom Brown Park under a bright moon to cheer guest conductor Alexander Jiménez and the incredible featured soloist Longineau Parsons. The audience knew it was going to be a fun time when the orchestra members were shouting and cheering! The standing ovation and shouts for encore are unheard of for an outdoor Pops concert, and the orchestra ran out of music before the crowd was ready to go!” – Tallahassee Democrat, May 2001