Music

I am deeply interested in how music forms a communicative language (don't know what I'm talking about? Read Susanne Langer's book!). I have explored this throughout my career as a musician and more recently as a researcher.

Music AI Research

I am very excited for the Aria project, a 3-year collaboration with Louis Bradshaw, funded by EleutherAI, to bear fruit! The goal of Aria was to train state-of-the-art generative music models. As a highlight, a Disklavier demo video is shown:

We are continuing to work on the Aria project, if you are interested in working on music AI, please reach out!

Videos of Musical Performances

I have been playing the piano since I was 3 years old. Here are some videos of my performances.

• Ukrainian Charity Concert #2 (3/26/2022)

  We organized this concert in Saint Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco, as a followup for the first charity concert we organized on 3/14/2022. (Unfortunately, no videos were recorded for the first concert). Shown here is a performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, transcribed for piano by Franz Liszt. I am playing the piano along with Lucas Spangher on cello and Svetlana Nikitenko singing soprano.

• Personal Recordings 4/10/2022

  I had always wanted to play a version of Bizet's Carmen on piano, but, surprisingly, no canonical version exists. So, I transcribed my own. Here are recordings of two movements from the opera (the first is the "Habanera" and the second is the "Overture"). I transcribed them for piano solo, heavily inspired by the Anderson and Roe two-piano version.

• Piano Recital 5/15/2022

  I organized a piano recital in my apartment in May 2022, before leaving Los Angeles to start a visiting year at Stanford University. The program for the first part is:

  • 5:20: Sonata No. 25 in G major, Op. 79, "The Cuckoo" (1809), Ludwig van Beethoven
  • 9:56: Sonata No.12 in A-flat Major, Op. 26 (1800), Ludwig van Beethoven
  • 15:38: Symphony No. 9 (original: 1824, transcription: 1865), Ludwig van Beethoven, transcribed for piano solo by Franz Liszt
  • 24:04: Piano Etudes (1994) No. 1, 6, Philip Glass
  • 29:50: Prelude in C-sharp Major, BMV 848 (1722), Johann Sebastian Bach
  • 31:30: Etude Op. 25, No. 1 in A flat Major, “Aeolian Harp” (1837), Frédéric Chopin
  • 35:10: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 in D-flat Major S. 244 (1847), Franz Liszt

• The program for the second part is:

  • 5:45: Cantos de España (1892), 5. Seguidillas. Isaac Albéniz
  • 9:33: Suite Española op. 47 (1886), 1. Granada, 2. Sevilla. Isaac Albéniz
  • 19:49: Spanish Dance (2020), Alexander Spangher
  • 30:29: Carmen (1875), Georges Bizet
    • 30:29, 32:55: Carmen Fantasy for 2 pianos (2011). Aragonaise, Habanera., arr. Greg Anderson (arr. for piano by Alexander Spangher)
    • 36:16: Sonatina No. 6, BV 284 (1920). Andante, Habanera, Overture, Prelude, arr. Ferruccio Busoni
    • 45:22: Suite - Fantasie Carmen (2013). Chanson du Toreador, arr. Karen Kornienko
    • 49:26: Carmen Fantasy for violin (1882). Seguedille, arr. Pablo de Sarasate (arr. for piano by Alexander Spangher)
    • 51:57: Variations on a Theme from Carmen (1920). Danse Bohème, arr. Vladimir Horowitz

Original program notes: here. and here.