Conductor and composer Alex Prior (b. 1992) brings more than 19 years of internationally acclaimed experience to his role as Music Director of the Eugene Symphony. He began his tenure on October 12, 2025, and now calls Eugene home.
Alex has earned a reputation since early childhood for his profound and visionary music making which he has had the opportunity to share with some of the world’s greatest soloists, orchestras, and opera companies.
Alex began his post-secondary studies at the St. Petersburg Conservatory at the age of 13 with a dual major in conducting with Alexander Alexeev and composition with Boris Tishchenko. He made his professional conducting debut at 14, conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride and graduated with top honors at the age of 17 - a feat only matched by Sergei Prokofiev. Immediately thereafter he was appointed by the Seattle Symphony as an Assistant Conductor.
In 2017, Alex became the Chief Conductor of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra at just 22 years of age, the youngest artistic leader of a major North American orchestra in modern history. His tenure was widely hailed as an era of extraordinary artistic excellence and growth. Alex cherished his time in Edmonton, and with his characteristic and earnest neurodivergent enthusiasm he fully embraced Alberta, and still considers himself to be, at least in large part, a proud Albertan.
Alex Prior’s legacy in Edmonton includes the orchestra’s first recordings in over 30 years, numerous Canadian premieres, and first commissions, with performances of works by composers such as Sibelius, Bruckner, Ustvolskaya, Adams, and Rimsky-Korsakov. Recent highlights include engagements with the San Francisco, Detroit, Queensland, and Houston Symphonies; the Gewandhaus Orchestra; NDR Symphony Hamburg; Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen; Calgary Philharmonic; Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid; and the Brevard Festival Orchestra, among others.
A lifelong opera enthusiast, Alex has conducted productions including Mirandolina, La Traviata, Carmen, Rusalka, Rigoletto, Julietta, Elektra, Hänsel und Gretel, Orestes, and Der Fliegende Holländer, earning praise for his rich, dramatic orchestral sound and singer advocacy.
Also a composer and arranger, his ballet Mowgli—commissioned by the Russian State Ballet—has toured internationally since 2008. His works have been performed by the Royal Philharmonic, Edmonton Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, BBC Singers, and more.
Alex has a broad repertoire, with particular passion for American, German, Russian, Czech, and Nordic music. He champions the work of living composers, including Nicole Lizée, Gabriella Smith, Tanya Tagaq, Vivian Fung, Missy Mazzoli, and Alissa Cheung, and believes in music’s power to unite people and foster understanding.