Alexander Keuk (*1971 in Wuppertal) is a German composer and journalist covering classical music. He attended Bergische Musikschule Wuppertal and took lessons in singing, piano, bassoon and music theory. After his high school exam, apprenticeship and alternative service he attended Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden in the composition class of Hans Jürgen Wenzel, his fellow composition students were Benjamin Schweitzer, Arnulf Herrmann and Michael Flade. The studies were followed by a postgraduate course with Wilfried Krätzschmar. Since 2002, Keuk is a free-lance composer, author and journalist living in Dresden. He was member of several artist groups in the 90s, joined performances with dancers in Dresden and started conducting in school concerts in the former Kulturpalast. At the present time, his output as composer contains roughly 70 compositions for instruments, voices or in a staged oder experimental interdisziplinary surrounding.
Keuk is working with authors like Wolfgang Willaschek, Sabine Bergk and Hans Thill. He composed settings of texts of Alexander Puschkin, Georg Heym, Peter Altenberg and Paul Valéry. His children opera „Dr. OX V5.1“ after Jules Verne was first performed in 2003. The orchestral piece “Mehr Licht!” was written for the 800year celebrations of Dresden in 2006, played by Dresden Philharmonic and conducted by Peter Gülke. Also “Kan Kun”, a choir piece was commissioned by the Dresden city council. Three times he got a scholarship from “Kulturstiftung Sachsen”, most recently for his “LAZARUS CONCERTO” in 2018. 2009 he set Wilhem Müllers poem “Vineta” into music and took part in the First International Choir Workshop of the Dresden Chamberchoir.
Keuk is working together with contemporary chamber music ensembles like ensemble courage or Sinfonietta Dresden, he is writing for well known instrumental soloists like Nils Mönkemeyer, Matthias Lorenz or the singers Anna Korondi or Elisabeth Holmer. His music is continously present at festivals, Keuk got several awards for his compositions as well as his music was recorded by German and Czech broadcast stations. His commentaries on classical and contemporary music are published in Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, on his blog mehrlicht and on “Musik in Dresden”, the leading cultural website in Dresden.
Alexander Keuk is supporting the International Allan Pettersson Society and the Dresden Chamber Choir, and he is also working in the field of teaching, moderating, public relations, press service and social media.
