With Mr. Benjamin Zander

With Mr. Jorma Panula

With Mr. Pierre Boulez

With Mr. Raffi Armenian


With Mr. Nurhan Arman

With Dr. Friedrich Gehmacher 
President of the Mozarteum

Kristian Alexander is a conductor, music director, pedagogue, and philanthropist. He is currently the Music Director and Principal Conductor of Kindred Spirits Orchestra (Toronto, Canada), an organization committed to changing people’s lives through music’s extraordinary power to communicate, inspire, uplift, educate and entertain. In addition, he is the Music Director of the International Music Academy, a private music school dedicated to the education, career development, and artistic management of young Canadian musicians. He is also artistic director of the International Music Academy Winter Music Festival and Summer Music Festival.

Maestro Alexander has conducted several professional instrumental and vocal ensembles, such as the Windsor Symphony Orchestra (Windsor, Canada), the Metropolitain Orchestra (Montreal, Canada), the Royal Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra (Toronto, Canada), the Oakville Chamber Orchestra (Oakville, Canada), the Vaughan Symphony Orchestra (Toronto, Canada), the Internationale Bach-Collegium and Gächinger Kantorei (Stuttgart, Germany), the “Mozarteum” Symphony Orchestra (Sofia, Bulgaria), among others. 

Maestro Nurhan Arman, Music Director of Toronto Philharmonia, noted that “Mr. Alexander’s expressive manner to conduct inspired the orchestra immensely”; Dr. Phillip Posey, Music Director of Kansas Symphony Orchestra, is “impressed with Mr. Alexander’s excellent conducting technique and his keen sense of ensemble and balance”; Maestro Adil Mehta, Music Director of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, pointed “Mr. Alexander’s ability to convey his interpretation of the music to the orchestra. His approach to the score was logical, and his musicianship unquestionable”; Maestro Helmuth Rilling, Music Director of Internationale Bach Akademie praised Mr. Alexander’s “great enthusiasm” conducting the Gächinger Kantorei and Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, when Maestro Nedialko Nedialkov, Music Director of National Bulgarian Opera proclaimed that, “the ‘Mozarteum’ symphony orchestra conducted by Mr. Kristian Alexander demonstrated a profound sensitivity toward the Mozart style and interpretation.”

Maestro Alexander is fluent in the English, French, Russian, and Bulgarian languages and has extensive working knowledge in the Italian, German, Czech, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages. In addition to possessing master degrees in conducting and music history, he also holds various degrees in anthropology, psychology, theology, computer science, and arts management from academies and universities in Toronto, Montreal, Stuttgart, Sofia, and Plovdiv. He has further worked with Maestro Gustav Meier (Ann Arbor, Santa Cruz), Maestro Marin Alsop (Santa Cruz), Maestro Helmuth Rilling (Stuttgart), Maestro John Morris Russell (Windsor), Maestro Nurhan Arman (Toronto), Maestro David Agler (Montreal), and Maestro Michael Milkoff (Sofia).

Maestro Alexander has recorded several live concerts for the International Bachakademie (Stuttgart), the National Radio Broadcasting Company, and the National Television of Bulgaria. He is also a recipient of numerous grants and awards from the Canada Arts Council, London City Council, L’Université de Montréal, Internationale Bachakademie in Stuttgart, the Mozarteum Internationale Stiftung in Salzburg, Open Society Foundation in New York, Pro Helvetia Foundation in Bern, National Piano Competition in Sofia, and National Music Academy in Sofia. 

In recognition of his musicianship, Maestro Alexander was elected for six consecutive years to represent Canada as one of the directors at the Board of the Directors of the Conductors Guild (2002-2008), in addition to his position as a director at the London Arts Council (1999-2001), and the Southern Ontario Music Chamber Institute (2004-2006). Maestro Alexander has also been Chair of the first International conference for conductors and music directors (Toronto, 2007). He has also been a supporter of Orchestra Canada (Toronto), American Federation of Musicians (New York), American Symphony Orchestra League (New York), Conductors Guild (Richmond), Friends of Glenn Gould Society (Toronto), International Music Biography Centre (Vienna), International Promotion of Arts (Vienna), Interkulturelle Gesellshaft (Bad Wörishofen), and the National Association for Handel music (Sofia).

As a dedicated pedagogue, Maestro Alexander has also been on the Faculty of several educational institutions, both in Canada and abroad. In 2006 he was invited by the Conductors Guild to moderate in New York City a highly acclaimed panel with conductors from The Juilliard School, The Pierre Monteux School for Conductors, and The Eastman School of Music. In 2007, Maestro Alexander was appointed advisor and host of the first International Workshop for conductors in Toronto. As members of the Faculty, he invited one of the most prominent conducting teachers worldwide, Maestro Jorma Panula, as well as one of the doyens of conducting studies in Canada, Maestro Raffi Armenian. In 2005 Maestro Alexander was appointed professor in orchestral conducting and advanced musical studies at the International Music Academy (Toronto, Canada), following his appointment as an instructor in instrumental studies at the Canadian Conservatory for Music and Arts (Toronto, Canada). In 2004 he was also invited to join the Faculty of the Royal School of Music (Toronto, Canada), in addition to his tenure at the International Bilingual School of Toronto (2001-2004). In 2003 Maestro Alexander was approached by the world’s largest private schools International Baccalaureate Organization (London, England) where he still holds the position of Principal examiner and Moderator for Music. In 1999-2001 he was invited to create and lead a fully developed music programme at the Weldon Park Academy (London, Canada), in addition to his appointment by the Ontario Arts Council as “Artist in residence” at the London French School. Earlier in his career he was also a vocal coach in languages and interpretation at the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal (1996-1997) as well as a professor in Music psychology at the New Bulgarian University (1995-1996).        

In 1997 Maestro Alexander was invited as an assistant orchestra and choir conductor for several presentations of the opera Jenůfa (L. Janáček) at the Opéra de Montréal. The performance was outstanding and has been praised by the critics as “one of the best productions in the history of the Opera of Montreal" (Robert Markow, Le Magazine de la Place des Arts, Montreal, Quebec, 2000). During this time Maestro Alexander was also a voice consultant for several internationally acclaimed actors and actresses in Quebec, such as Louise Marleau, Marc Béland, and Pierre Collins.

In 1990 Maestro Alexander was the founder, the conductor, the music director, and the general director of the “Mozarteum” symphony orchestra in Sofia. With the joint support of the Government of Austria, the Government of Switzerland, the Vatican, and the “Open Society” Foundation (New York, NY), the orchestra was created to promote early and rarely presented works of W.A. Mozart. In 1992 Maestro Alexander led the “Mozarteum” symphony orchestra, the National Radio Broadcasting Choir, the National Philharmonic Choir, and soloists of the National Opera in several productions and recordings of live concerts of rarely performed compositions by Mozart for the National Radio and the National Television of Bulgaria. As a recognition of his conducting and leadership of the “Mozarteum” orchestra in Sofia, Maestro Alexander has received the Award of the Internationale Stiftung “Mozarteum” in Salzburg.

In addition to his career as a conductor, music director, and pedagogue, Maestro Alexander has also been invited as a consultant by several Canadian corporations. In 2004 he was recruited by AMS Inc. as a consultant for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 2001 he was invited as a consultant for the Allocations and grants committee of the City Council of London, Ontario. He was also a consultant for the National Bank of Canada (1999), Bell Canada (1998), and Canada Post (1997).

Maestro Alexander is also the author of three major research papers: “Le Magnificat: trois lecture musicales. L’interprétation de la symbolique et de la forme textuelle dans les Magnificat de H. Schütz, de J. S. Bach et de W. A. Mozart” (Université de Montréal, Canada, 2005), “Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: a merger proposal “(University of Toronto, 2004), and "Mozart’s Davide penitente KV 469: Philosophical, aesthetics, formal, and conducting analysis" (National Academy of music, Sofia, 1994). He is also the author of two publications in major scientific journals: "Typology of the form of the magnificat compositions" (Institute of musicology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, v. 1, 1997) and "Energetic interactions between music text and sound: etude on philosophy of music" (Institute of philosophical research of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, v. 3, 1996).

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