Steven M. Alper composed and orchestrated the score of the musical theatre work, The Immigrant, for which he received a 2005 Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Orchestrations. The Immigrant received a workshop production in New York at CAP21 in 2000. After continuing development at the Denver Center Theatre Company and the Coconut Grove Playhouse, The Immigrant premiered in its completed form off-Broadway at Dodger Stages in the Fall of 2004. A recording of the piece was released in early 2005 on Ghostlight Records.
After beginning his musical life with classical piano studies, he studied classical composition with Rudolph Schramm, and later at SUNY at Stony Brook (with Peter Winkler) and Mannes College (with David Tcimpidis and Frederick Perle). Crossing over from his rock roots into more serious contemporary music, his full length musical, The Library, has a unique score, combining classically oriented music with rock, folk, and street elements. It received a National Endowment for the Arts Production Grant, was selected for workshop at the New Harmony Project, and premiered in 1996 at Stamford Theatre Works. In 1994 he received a grant from Maine State Music Theatre and The National Alliance for Musical Theatre to compose a musical based on the life of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. This project was also selected for workshop at the New Harmony Project in 1995. It premiered at Maine State in August of 1996 to excellent reviews. He was commissioned by The Astoria Chamber Players and “Chant for Dark Hours,” the first part of a song cycle, Some Men, based on poems by Dorothy Parker, was performed by the orchestra in February, 1992. The Audition, a music theatre piece, was selected by the Manhattan Class Company for performance in their Festival of Short Works. Rappaccini’s Daughter, a gothic music theatre piece, was workshopped at the New Harmony Project in the Spring of 2004.
Mr. Alper has composed incidental scores for Crucifer of Blood (The Phoenix Theatre Company), Action Painting (American Theatre of Actors), Vatzlav (National Theatre of Woodbee), Faces of God (Artpark, The New Dramatists, and elsewhere), and The Disposal (Jan Hüs Theatre), among many others, and has written award-winning theatre pieces with Karen DeMauro (including the Mobil Economics Award, and a sponsoring grant from the Rhode Island Bramley Bill for Substance Abuse Prevention).
Mr. Alper has arranged and conducted at The Public Theatre (NYC), The Lambs’ Theatre (NYC), The Cherry Lane Theatre (NYC), The Goodspeed Opera House (E. Haddam, CT), The George Street Playhouse (New Brunswick, NJ) and many more, working with the likes of Stephen Schwartz, Martin Charnin, Todd Rundgren, Morton DaCosta, Charles Strouse, and Don Scardino. His book, entitled Next!—Auditioning for the Musical Theatre, was published by Heinemann Books in the fall of 1996.
Mr. Alper has also written for film and television, composing the title music, underscoring, and jingles for the cable TV show, Between the Lines, the score for the feature film, Adrift (starring Luna Velez), and the short film, The Wake-Up Call (directed by Emmy award nominee, James Manos, Jr.), dance music for Riedel Dance Theater, numerous commercials, and the finale for the feature film musical, Starlight.