A reading by the JACK Quartet during the 2017 University of Iowa string residency program.

Spenceri - String Quartet 1.33 (2017) - JACK Quartet

From the UI 24+24 concert. 
The 24+24 concert is an event in which composers are given 24 hours to write a miniature for a soloist or small ensemble, and the performers are given 24 hours to prepare the piece.

Ambiguous single word title (2017)

An electronic piece bounced for stereo. Written with the intention of being mixed for 8 channels live.

Sound Masses (2016)

A short piece for string quartet experimenting with elements of indeterminacy.

An Exercise in Indeterminacy v.1 (2016)

An Exercise in Indeterminacy v.2 (2016)

A stereo reduction of an 8-channel piece for fixed media. The sonic material is derived from Allen Ginsberg reading part 3 of "Howl", as well as a broken ARP 2600.

To Carl Solomon

Nightmare of Moloch

Alexandro Cazares - Double Bass
Sean Miller - Alto Saxophone

extra-temporal deviations

Performed by the JACK quartet, Dec. 6, 2018


The aesthetic grounding of this piece is concerned with the process of meditation and the often vain attempts to center the mind. The focal pitch and timbre is deviated from and returned to by various means, some controlled, some chaotic, and each lending their own context to the fragile stability of this familiar state.

incept, diverge, coalesce

Alexander Spenceri (b. 1996) is a composer, performer, and improviser pursuing a B.M. in music composition at the University of Iowa. Under the instruction of Jean-François Charles, his music has been performed throughout the Midwest and  has been recorded by such ensembles as the JACK quartet. As a low brass player, Mr. Spenceri is a regular performer with the Laptop Orchestra of the University of Iowa and the Christine Burke Ensemble. His music is characterized by an object-oriented use of indeterminacy, simultaneously limiting and liberating the agency of both the composer and the performer, and turning all participants into listeners.

Alex Spenceri

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