David Alpher's compositions are unique, eclectic mixtures of influences including jazz, American folksong, theater music, and the classical tradition. His multimedia work Las Meninas: Variations, inspired by Velázquez and Picasso paintings, has been performed on at least 30 occasions in such diverse locales as Finland, Spain, Brazil, Zion National Park, and Harvard University. Alpher's work includes Cantilena for flute and viola, Ritornello for flute and piano, commissioned by Christiane Meininger and the Duo Sereno and premiered by them in Thalbürgel, Germany in 2002. Also in that year, Alpher premiered Song of Witness, a chamber piece incorporating ten haiku written by Japanese-American who were detainees in U.S. internment camps during World War II. A native of Washington, D.C., Alpher graduated with High Distinction from the Indiana University School of Music in 1968. He studied piano with Menahem Pressler and Jeaneane Dowis.
David Alpher
Studios
Chapman
David Alpher worked in the Chapman studio.
Chapman Studio was funded by Mrs. Alice Woodrough Chapman in memory of her husband, composer George Alexander Chapman. Symmetrically massed, the building is stuccoed on the exterior with a natural, unpainted cement. Its unusual half-timbered ornament consists of slender, knotty spruce poles painted a dark green color. A central, peak-roofed entrance porch appears on the north side…