A highly sought-after collaborative pianist, vocal coach, and music director, Dr. Alexa Sowers collaborates with vocalists, instrumentalists, opera companies, chamber groups, and diverse ensembles. This summer at the Wiener Opernakademie and Festspiele 2025, she serves as assistant conductor, vocal coach, and collaborative pianist for Carmen as well as a jury panelist for the international Vienna Opera Competition 2025 at the Mozarthaus in Vienna, Austria.

 

Most recently she was the Music Director for Adam Guettel's The Light in the Piazza at Georgia Southern University in Spring 2025. Previously she served as the Music Director of Houston Grand Opera’s 2024-2025 season of Opera to Go, featuring Emmy Award-winning author Mo Willem's Bite-Sized Operas Don't Let the Pigeon Sing Up Late and Slopera!, with music by Grammy-nominated composer Carlos Simon. The season's production was the world premiere of the new bilingual Spanish and English version of the shows. During the 2023-2024 Houston Grand Opera season, she musically prepared and performed the newly company-commissioned work Katie: The Strongest of the Strong composed by Faye Chiao and librettist Anton Dudley. In two seasons, the Opera to Go tour reached over 30,000 people, provided a sensory-friendly performance, and performed at such venues as Zilkha Hall in Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, Festival Hill Institute, Houston Rodeo, and Miller Outdoor Theatre.

 

Distinguished by her dynamic energy and artistry, Dr. Sowers has collaborated with many opera companies including Houston Grand Opera, Opera in the Heights, I Colori Dell'opera, and Eastman Opera Theatre. She has served as a studio pianist at Eastman School of Music, Eastman Community Music School, Interlochen Center for the Arts Camp, the University of Iowa, and Illinois State University, in addition to working with numerous professional choirs, instrumental ensembles and university opera programs.

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She had the pleasure of performing, touring, and recording all contemporary repertoire with Illinois State University’s Wind Symphony ensemble, while working directly with living composers such as William Bolcom and Martha Horst. Additionally, she performed with choral and instrumental ensembles in the RED NOTE New Music Festival. Following her interest in contemporary music, she has studied and engaged with new music research in Paris at L'Ircam, Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM). Additional recent research includes a lecture recital presentation on the musical interpretation of gender in Robert Schumann’s and Carl Loewe’s settings of Frauenliebe und-leben.

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As a solo pianist, Dr. Sowers has won numerous competitions. She has been a featured pianist in the Piano Sundays at Old Capitol concert series in Iowa City and participated in several festivals including the Young Artist World Piano Festival and the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy.

 

Alexa Sowers received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano accompanying and chamber music with a minor in vocal coaching from Eastman School of Music. Her instructors and mentors include Russell Miller, Jean Barr, Tuyen Tonnu, Ksenia Nosikova, Paul Wirth, and Rachel Joselson.

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Dr. Sowers and her husband Calvin enjoy studying the Bible, cooking and traveling.