Alex Peh

Pianist Alex Peh, described by the Wall Street Journal as “stunning” and possessing “facility, flair and fearlessness”, collaborates with musicians globally in search of shared resonances that emerge from friendship and connection. A 2021 Fulbright Global Scholar, and a 2019 Asian Cultural Council Fellow, Dr. Peh made his Carnegie Hall debut in January 2023 alongside improvisers Claire Chase, Tyshawn Sorey, Susie Ibarra, Senem Pirler, Matana Roberts and Lisa Harris, performing a one-hour version of Pauline Oliveros’ The Witness. 

 

Peh is part of an improvising piano trio, Talking Gong, with percussionist and composer, Susie Ibarra; and flutist, Claire Chase. Their newest piece created by Ibarra, Sky Islands, received the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in music. They performed the North American premiere of Sky Islands at the Asia Society in New York City, July 18, 2024, with the Bergamot String Quartet and percussionist, Levy Lorenzo. The debut recording will be released on Habitat Sounds, Spring 2026. 

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Peh travelled to Yangon, Myanmar to study Burmese Sandaya piano, from master pianist Dr. U Yee Nwe. Peh began his studies in Sandaya from Kyaw Kyaw Naing, an internationally-acclaimed percussionist, and leader of the national Saing Waing orchestra, the classical percussion and gong orchestra of Myanmar. Peh  collaborated with Kyaw Kyaw Naing to create a Burmese Saing Waing ensemble, comprising students, faculty and community members at SUNY New Paltz. In 2019, they performed at Roulette Intermedium, New York City, performing a new composition that Kyaw Kyaw Naing composed for the group entitled Growing Rhythm.   

 

In 2021 Peh received a Fulbright Global Scholar fellowship that allowed him to connect with Greek pianist and musicologist Nikos Ordoulidis in Naoussa, Greece; Burmese pianist Ne Myo Aung in Bangkok, Thailand and Pooyan Azadeh in Bayreuth, Germany. Together they created a new album of piano music, Attune, released on Habitat Sounds, and a companion ethnographic film Intermittent Attunement in collaboration with Dr. Lauren Meeker, Alyson Hummer and Madelyn Colonna. Excerpts of the film and album were premiered at National Sawdust, Brooklyn NYC. Intermittent Attunement was selected for screening at the Ethnografilm festival in Paris, France at the Club D’Etoile.  

 

Peh received his musical training from Indiana and Northwestern Universities where he worked with Arnaldo Cohen, Menahem Pressler, Sylvia Wang and Evelyne Brancart. He attended the Banff, Aspen and Tanglewood music festivals where he worked with Emanuel Ax, Pamela Frank, Claude Frank, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Charles Dutoit, and Peter Serkin. He is an associate professor of piano at SUNY New Paltz, and associate chair of the music department.

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“And his heroic battle with Ms. León’s arduous “Rituál” proved stunning.” - David Mermelstein, Wall Street Journal