Background
DMA, Eastman School of Music
GRAMMY-winning conductor Alan Pierson has been praised by The New York Times as “a dynamic conductor and musical visionary” and by The New Yorker as “a sensational force” with “powerful ideas about how to renovate the concert experience.” Pierson is the founding Artistic Director and conductor of the acclaimed ensemble Alarm Will Sound, which The New York Times has described as pointing toward “the future of classical music.” Under his leadership, the ensemble has earned widespread critical recognition for performances that are at once virtuosic, theatrically charged, and conceptually rigorous.
Pierson cultivates deep partnerships with living composers, including Steve Reich, David Lang, Donnacha Dennehy, Cassandra Miller, Tyshawn Sorey, Mary Kouyoumdjian, David T. Little, Michael Gordon, Jlin, Ted Hearne, and many others. His critically acclaimed cross-genre collaborations center diverse artists, including the multi-hyphenate Taylor Mac, librettist Royce Vavrek, choreographer John Heginbotham, and producer Eartheater.
Pierson’s 2026 season includes a monumental 25th anniversary for Alarm Will Sound, celebrating all year with “AWS 25” and a series of world premiere recordings. In the fall, Pierson directs his most ambitious project yet: Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians: Staged Variations at the Park Avenue Armory, a long-form exposition featuring the Steve Reich Ensemble and AWS alongside musicians from the Manhattan School of Music. Pierson’s season also includes a sold-out celebration of Yoko Ono at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art and a critically acclaimed production of Michael Gordon’s What to wear at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
His signature theatrical performances engross audiences in deep and affecting experiences of contemporary music. In the evening-length 1969, addressing a pivotal year in cultural and musical history, his daringly engineered collage of sound, imagery, words, and juxtaposed fragments of landmark works by Stockhausen, Berio, Stravinsky, and The Beatles evoked the era’s political and artistic ferment. His Finding Balance intimately rendered the life and work of Hans Abrahamsen, weaving live performance with biographical interview, movement, sound, and a fairy tale.
A premier interpreter of contemporary opera, Pierson’s notable credits include David T. Little’s What Belongs to You (Modlin Arts Center) and Dog Days (Peak Performances, Fort Worth Opera, LA Opera); Michael Gordon’s What to wear (Prototype Festival); Mary Kouyoumdjian’s Adoration (Prototype and LA Opera) and Paper Pianos (EMPAC, Clarice); Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up (Bienen School); Hans Thomalla’s Dark Fall and Dark Spring (Mannheim); Donnacha Dennehy’s The Hunger (BAM) and The Last Hotel (St. Ann's); Christopher Cerrone’s In a Grove (Bienen); Steve Reich’s The Cave; and Kare Soper’s I Was Here I Was I (Metropolitan Museum of Art).
As a guest conductor, he has appeared with leading ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, LA Opera, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, New World Symphony, the Steve Reich Ensemble, and Silk Road Ensemble.
Beyond the concert hall, he is an active recording artist and producer, with more than 30 albums released on labels including Nonesuch Records, Sony Classical, Cantaloupe Music, Oehms Classics, and Sweetspot DVD, which include both recorded and live opera. Pierson was nominated for two 2026 GRAMMY Awards in the categories of Best Opera Performance and Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, winning the latter with his ensemble Alarm Will Sound.
From 2007 to 2015, Pierson served as Artistic Director and conductor of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, where he spearheaded a bold reinvention of the orchestra. The New York Times called his leadership “truly inspiring,” while The New Yorker’s Alex Ross described the Philharmonic under Pierson as “remarkably innovative, perhaps even revolutionary.” From 2006 to 2021, Pierson was Principal Conductor of the Dublin-based Crash Ensemble, founded by composer Donnacha Dennehy.
He is Co-Director of the Northwestern University Contemporary Music Ensemble and has served as visiting faculty at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Eastman School of Music, and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Pierson holds bachelor’s degrees in physics and music from MIT and a doctorate in conducting from the Eastman School of Music, which granted him its Centennial Award in 2022. Learn more at alanpierson.com.
Bienen Ensembles