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Biography

Philadelphia‑based composer and pianist Alexander Timofeev merges Eastern European and American influences to create music marked by intense emotion, lyricism, and dynamic movement.

Timofeev debuted as both composer and pianist at age nineteen, performing his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (2003) with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Moldova. His work has since been recognized internationally: he received the Audience Choice Award and Commission at the American Composers Orchestra’s 2017 Underwood New Music Readings; was a finalist in the 2021 Organ Taurida International Composition Competition and the 2018 Moscow Conservatory “New Classics” Competition; won Chicago Ensemble’s Discover America IX (2017) and the 2016 Richard Weerts Composition Competition; was a finalist at the 2016 Thailand International Composition Festival; and was the National Finalist of the 2010 MTNA Young Artist Composition Competition. He served as the Commissioned Composer for the 2019 New Jersey Music Teachers Association conference.

Timofeev’s compositions have earned top prizes at the Sergey Slonimsky International Competition for Pianists and Composers (Russia), the Carl Filtsch International Competition (Romania), the Semeniako Competition for Pianists and Composers (Belarus), and the Valsske Mezirici International Competition (Czech Republic). His works for cimbalom were selected as obligatory contemporary repertoire at the Eugen Coca International Competition (Moldova). He has premiered his music at the Thailand International Composition Festival, the Oxford Piano Festival (UK), the Hariclea Darclée Festival and Voice Competition (Romania), Novye Imena (Russia), and the Northern Lights Festival (USA). Performances of his piano works have been broadcast on WQXR, New York’s classical music station, and presented on Pro TV (Romania) and Tele‑Radio Moldova.

His recent compositions include the one act opera School of Marital Happiness (2019) on a libretto by Janet Fishman, premiered at the Wiener Kammeroper; Wind Fairy, for Orchestra (2019) premiered at Moscow Conservatory’s Rachmaninoff Hall; Concerto for Cimbalom and Orchestra (chamber version 2019) premiered at Solti Hall of the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest; Antiphon for the Angels (2019) for Mezzo-soprano, Mixed Choir, Orchestral Winds, Organ and Percussion premiered at Rowan University, New Jersey, and others.

Among the most influential supporters of Timofeev’s work are Romanian soprano Mariana Nicolesco, American mezzo‑soprano Barbara Dever, clarinetists Stanislav Chernyshev and Elizandro Garcia‑Montoya, cimbalist Ion Curteanu, violinist Angela Molodojan, pianists Helen Cha, Yuri Blinov, and Matei Varga, marimbist Greg Giannascoli, and choreographer‑dancer Paule Turner.

An active pianist, Timofeev has appeared as a soloist with the Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra, the Radio‑Television Orchestra of St. Petersburg (Russia), the Iași Philharmonic Orchestra (Romania), the Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestras of Moldova, and the Eastman School of Music Orchestra. He won First Prize at the Niš International Piano Competition in Serbia (2006) and the Margaret Guthman Piano Competition in Atlanta (2006), and Third Prize at the 2007 MTNA Young Artist Piano Competition in Toronto.

Timofeev made his conducting debut in 2006 with the National Chamber Orchestra of Moldova. Subsequent engagements included Britten’s Noye’s Fludde (2008) and Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel (2009) at the Northern Lights Music Festival in Minnesota.

Between 2008 and 2013, Dr. Timofeev founded and co‑directed the International Society of Pianists and Composers (ispci.org), a non‑profit organization dedicated to promoting contemporary music for piano. Initially formed as a creative circle of Eastman School of Music alumni, ISPC grew into an international network of composers and performers from many countries.

As a scholar, performer, and publisher of Zlata Tkach’s music, Dr. Timofeev has given the first performances of several major works, including Tkach’s Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (2002), Piano Sonata No. 2 (2004), Five Songs on Poems by Agnesa Roșca (2005) with soprano Tatiana Costiuc, and the Sonata for Violin and Piano (2005) in collaboration with violinist Angela Molodojan. He has presented Tkach’s compositions at the Eastman School of Music, the University of Maryland, Rowan University, the Northern Lights Music Festival (Minnesota), and in numerous venues throughout Moldova, including Chișinău’s Philharmonic Hall, Organ Hall, the National Museum of History, and the Academy of Arts. In 2008, Dr. Timofeev published a complete edition of Tkach’s children’s piano works, followed by editions of her Two Piano Sonatas and Five Pieces for Piano. A new edition of Tkach’s Piano Concerto, prepared by Dr. Timofeev, was released in 2015.

Alexander Timofeev completed his doctoral studies in piano performance at the University of Maryland, College Park (2012). He holds a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music (2008) and a Bachelor of Music double degree in piano and composition from Rowan University (2006). His composition teachers included Zlata Tkach, Lawrence K. Moss, and Harold Oliver, and his piano studies were with Douglas Humpherys, Larissa Dedova, Veda Zuponcic, Victor Levinzon, and Aliona Vardanean. He also studied conducting with Mikhail Sechkin.

Dr. Timofeev currently serves as 3/4‑time faculty at Rowan University, where he coordinates the Composition and Classroom Piano programs.

https://www.timofeev.org