Born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, Alex entered the world silently, and now lives to make up for that silence by spending a life on stage.

Starting at 18 months old by running in circles singing along to the Star Wars soundtrack wearing Kleenex boxes for shoes, Alex has always had an affinity for the fun in the epic and whimsical.

Following awkward teenage years featuring a growth spurt up and a voice drop down, Alex found comfort singing classical music taking lessons with a 91 year old soprano-turned-bass. In spite of this, Alex continued to find discomfort singing along with the contemporary musical theatre he loved most. Searching for role models who bridged the gap between opera and Broadway, Alex set his mission parameters: Follow the path forged by Kristen Chenoweth and Kelli O’Hara and go to grad school for opera.

Taking this mission to Carnegie Mellon University and working with great teachers and mentors like Jennifer Aylmer and Thomas Douglas, Alex realized he had completely overlooked the fact that Kristin and Kelli are petite blonde sopranos while he was a tall, lurking bass.

This presented a conundrum: How does a 6’5” gangly bass best fit on stage? 

While this question simmered (alongside a global pandemic, perhaps you’ve heard of it), Alex dabbled singing with the Houston Chamber Choir (Fun story: During his first concert with the Choir, they won a GRAMMY award for an album recorded the previous season. Alex graciously accepted congratulations from excited patrons afterward, despite making no contribution to the award-winning album. Turns out pretending to win a GRAMMY is pretty fun anyway!). He also did two tours with Express Children’s Theatre, where he played roles such as Mama Elf, Santa Clause, and a reindeer with an Elvis impersonation so bad that thousands of school children booed him off stage

Alongside these early professional experiences, Alex continued his training with Jeanie Lovetri’s Somatic Voicework(sm) and further mentoring with Doug Peck, LA-based vocal coach extraordinaire. With Somatic Voicework(sm) and Doug, Alex finally unlocked the ability to make sounds that were more interesting than low and loud (turns out basses can also sing high!). Shortly after this revelation, Alex got the opportunity to play The Mother in Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins at Madison Opera, which was the first of three roles with that company in as many seasons (Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Benoit/Alcindoro in La boheme). 

Working with veteran directors and performers alongside encouraging and thoughtful coaching from coach/pianist/composer/Hobbit Scott Gendel, Alex found an answer to his question: His place as a 6’5” gangly bass was to not wear pants (seriously, only 1 of 4 character played with MO had him in a costume that wasn’t a dress or night gown). Perhaps more specifically, his place was to play the big guy on stage with problems bigger than he is. 

Alex now happily takes on larger-than-life character roles in both opera and musical theatre. In between gigs, he shares the fun with singers at Forward Voice Studio, of which he is the owner and vocal coach. Originally born and raised in Wisconsin, Alex currently resides in Wichita, KS with his romance book obsessed partner and two Bernese Mountain Dogs, who are nearly as big as he is.