Biography

Alexander was born in London and at 8 years old, he won a place as a chorister at St Paul's Cathedral, London under organists and choirmasters John Scott and Christopher Dearnley. He studied the oboe, piano and theatre skills and was trained intensively as a Treble. He rehearsed and performed both with the choir and as a soloist almost every day, and frequently as a paid soloist in grand venues and on foreign tours, and by the age of 10 was a consummate professional.

When his voice broke, Alexander continued to develop his skills at Bishop’s Stortford College and began studying as a tenor while continuing the oboe. His vocal tutors included Susan Waters, Ben Parry (Swingle Singers) and David Porter-Thomas (Kings Singers). Alexander was accepted as a choral scholar to Kings College, Cambridge, but wanting a more performance based course won a place on the undergraduate course at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester studying with renowned English artists, tenor Anthony Roden and bass Colin Iveson. He also took coaching from Robert Alderson and David Maxwell Anderson.

Alexander studied further at the Ferrandou Vocal School in France with baritone David Wilson Johnson and coach Peter Harrison; at the Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto in Italy with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Frederica von Stade and Corradina Caporello (Julliard) and studied privately in Switzerland with Nicolai Gedda as well as in Italy with Susanna Rigacci and in Sweden with tenor Sten Sjöstedt. He has performed in many public masterclasses from eminent artists including Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Federica von Stade, Rafael Rojas, Joseph Ward, Sir Thomas Allen, Robin Stapleton, Francesca Patané, Nigel Douglas and and received coaching from specialists such as Anna Sweeney, Anthony Legge, Paul Whelan, Anne Howells, Geoffrey Shovelton, Martin Isepp, Jean Mallandaine, Jim Holmes, Paul Griffiths, Chris Squires, Adele Leigh, John Cameron, David Lloyd-Jones and Maestro Bruno Rigacci amongst others.

Alexander has a broad repertoire and experience from buffo roles to leading men and to date has performed over 65 professional roles across a range of repertoire. Amongst others, he has been a soloist under the batons of Sir Georg Solti, Kent Negano, Simon Halsey, Sir Edward Downes, Sir David Wilcocks, Pier Giorgio Morandi, Edward Gardner, Noel Davies, Tobias Ringborg and Daniel Harding. Over the course of his career he has received consistent critical acclaim from the broadsheets and magazines: Opera Magazine hailed his professional debut in 2003 as Peter Quint in Britten’s Turn of the Screw as a “triumph”. Highlights include Don José for Malmö Opera, the Son/Tenor 1 in Weill’s Die Sieben Todsünden under David Radok at Göteborgs Operan, Armed Man / Priest in Die Zauberflöte under Daniel Harding at the Lucerne Festival, Switzerland; Don Ramiro under the baton of Pier Giorgio Morandi with the Finnish National Opera; Magnus Gabriele de la Gardie in Foroni’s Cristina Regina di Svezia at the Vadstena Opera Festival under Tobias Ringborg; Don Ramiro, La Cenerentola for Malmö Opera under Brad Cohen; His Count Danilo in Lehar’s The Merry Widow for Scottish Opera was described as “the Danilo of one’s dreams” (Opera Magazine). Other highlights include the roles of Le Nos, Pytor and Yarishkin in Le Nos (Shostakovich) at the Royal Opera House, London; Trio, Trouble In Tahiti (Bernstein) and Charlie, Mahagonny Songspiel (Weill) with John Fulljames; Pierrot, Der Kaiser von Atlantis (Ullmann) under Edward Gardner and the Hallé Orchestra and Lupo with the composer Hans Werner Henze as conductor on his children’s opera Pollicino. Other roles include Bajazet, Tamerlano; Hippolyte Hippolyte et Aricie (Lully) and Telemachus Il Ritorno d’UIisse in Patria (Monteverdi); Pedrillo Il Seraglio for Scottish Opera; Count von Zedlau Wiener Blut and Eisenstein, Die Fledermaus for Clonter Opera; Chinese Man The Fairy Queen (Purcell) for Armonico Touring Opera; Dottore The Jewel Box (Mozart) for Bampton Classical Opera; Fenton Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor (Nicolai); Mercury Orpheus in the Underworld (Offenbach); Ben The Telephone (Menotti) for Ludlow Opera; Rapunzel’s Prince Into The Woods (Sondheim), Chekalinsky Pique Dame (Tchaikovsky), Oronte Alcina (Handel), Egisto L’Egisto and La Théière L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, Ravel.

In the musical theatre world, Alexander was offered the title role of Peter Pan at the Royal Festival Hall, London, and the role of Anthony Candolino in the Broadway transfer of ‘Masterclass’ with Cagney and Lacy star Tyne Daly as Callas at the Vaudeville Theatre, London.

Amongst Alexander’s specialisations is modern repertoire and repertoire in the English language. Alexander has created 10 roles in world premiere British operas with renowned British composers, librettists, poets and novelists. For Scottish Opera: the title role in Gesualdo (Ian Rankin + Craig Armstrong); the title role in Dream Angus (Stephen Deazley + Alexander McCall Smith); the role of Steve in Money Man (Lyell Creswell + Ron Butlin); the Ghost 74 Degrees North (Paul Mealor + Peter Stollery); Vitya, The Letter (Bernard Maclaverty + V Khodosh). For The Opera Group the roles of: Suit, Walking Not Driving (Tim Coker); Dean, Anything Money Can Buy (Laura Bowler); Wilson Out of the Ordinary (David Bruce); For Yorke Trust Opera: Lord Nelson, The Sailor’s Tale (Rupert Bawden) which was also recorded on the NMC Record Label (available here). For Unicorn Theatre: Karl / Prince Florian Clockwork (Stephen McNeff + Philip Pullman) and Busqueda (Mark Anthony Turnage).

In competition, Alexander became the male winner of the Kiri Prize held by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in London and recorded by the BBC with the BBC Concert Orchestra live on BBC Radio 2 and televised for BBC’s Last Night of the Proms. Other competition wins include the Anne Ziegler Competition and 2nd prize in the Frederic Cox Award.

On the oratorio and concert platforms Alexander’s performed repertoire covers the majority of the major works and his performances have been heard in many of the major venues and cathedrals in the UK including the Barbican, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royal Festival Hall and Royal Albert Hall. Recent highlights include the tenor cantata Rinaldo (Brahms) with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and the Orphei Dränger male chorus in Sweden under Cecilia Rydinger Alin; concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in Salzburg and at Berwaldhallen, Stockholm; with the BBC Concert Orchestra at the Hackney Empire, London in A Tribute to Mario Lanza recorded live for BBC Radio 2 under Gavin Sutherland; Beethoven 9th Symphony and Messiah under Simon Halsey and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at Birmingham Symphony Hall; L’Enfant du Christ under Kent Negano at the Bridgewater Hall; Viennese Operetta Gala at The Sage, Gateshead under Wyn Davies and the Northern Sinfonia; Rossini Petite Messe Solenelle under David Lloyd-Jones; A look back to the Good ‘ol Days with the BBC Concert Orchestra under Roderick Dunk + Martyn Yates; Der Kaiser von Atlantis (Ullman) at the Imperial War Museum North under Edward Gardner and the Hallé Orchestra; The Jewel Box (Mozart) at St John Smith’s Square, London. World premieres include A Song for St Stephen (John Joubert) with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Simon Halsey. Other highlights include an operetta concert together with tenor Nigel Douglas in London, and a recital of Britten songs in Britten’s home town of Aldeburgh in collaboration with Benjamin Britten’s librettist, Eric Crozier.

Earlier career highlights include performing at Mansion House, London for the Lord Mayor of London; singing with the Muppets for creator Jim Henson’s memorial service; performing Fauré’s Requie,with José Carreras under Sir Georg Solti at the Royal Festival Hall, London; a private concert for President George H W Bush at the White House, Washington; performing for Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s 90th Birthday at Horse Guards Parade, London; with Harry Secombe on “Highway” (ITV);

Recording credits include the world premiere of Bawden’s The Sailor’s Tale on the NMC label in which he created the role of Lord Nelson; a world premiere for Independent Ballet Wales of Turner’s Bride of Flowers; the soundtrack of James Horner, Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas’s animated movie The Land Before Time and various prominent cinema and television soundtracks. Alexander has been heard live on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3, the BBC World Service, SVT and Sveriges Radio amongst others. Alexander is also featured on multiple Hyperion recordings and has recorded at the world famous Abbey Road Studios.

In 2006 /7, Alexander toured the UK and Ireland’s largest venues including the MEN Arena, Birmingham NIA, O2 Millennium Dome, Royal Albert Hall, The Point Dublin and The Odyssey Arena, Belfast to audiences exceeding 250,000 a week and 35,000 a night with Young Voices. He performed with artists including Beverley Knight, Lee Ryan (Blue), Alexandra Burke, Sabrina Washington (Mystique), and one of the world’s leading beatboxer’s, Beardyman. He has also performed with violinist Vanessa Mae linked by satellite.

In the football world, Alexander has performed for Manchester United and Bury Football Clubs. In 2009 Manchester United invited Alexander to sing at the UEFA Champions League Final in Rome.

In 2004 Alexander founded TENORI, a popular 3 Tenors act touring and performing internationally employing many of the UK’s finest operatic and musical theatre tenors. See the links for more information.

Alexander has appeared in various major UK television series for Granada Television and Yorkshire Television including Clocking Off, Brookside, Coronation Street (the UK's longest running television soap opera), Hollyoaks, At Home With The Braithwaites, Emmerdale and North Square . Alexander has also appeared in the BBC Proms and on the operatic spoof “Anarchy in the UK” for Kombat Opera.

In 2010 he was invited by Channel 4 Television to appear alongside Peter Stringfellow and Lee Ryan in Channel 4 television’s “Celebrity Come Dine with Me”.

Through his performing career, Alexander has helped support various charities over the last decade including Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, CLIC Sargent Cancer Care, Cancer Research UK, The Kidney Research Fund and the British Heart Foundation.

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