Alexander is a musician and composer, known primarily for his work in film and television, and based in London. He has composed music for many multi-award winning films, including drama, documentary and animation.
His work includes the landmark BBC 1 series Stephen: The Murder That Changed a Nation; the award-winning six-part BBC3 documentary series American High School and the BAFTA-nominated Channel 4 documentaries Muslim Drag Queens and Grayson Perry’s Dream House. Alexander has also composed scores to the BAFTA winning animation series’ I Can’t Go to School Today, Seeking Refuge and Animated Minds, as well as feature documentaries Rockfield: The Studio on the Farm and The Real Michael Jackson.
Selected additional credits include the Channel 4 films Grayson Perry: Divided Britain; Professor Green: Working Class White Men, Big Ben: Saving the World’s Greatest Clock, House of Teen Mums and Alex Brooker: My Perfect Body; BBC films The Secret World of Lewis Carroll and Nicky and Wynton: Making of a Concerto; a collaboration with Pussy Riot, Breton and Ten Ven, for their performance of Refugees In, at Banksy’s Dismaland; The KAWS Effect – a documentary broadcast as Instafilms via Instagram as well as in full on Sky Arts; various musical cues for London’s 2012 Olympic Games; and the high profile Rebels with a Cause campaign for Mazda.
Alexander was born and grew up in South London and started learning the violin at the age of four. As a teenager, he performed on British TV and radio, as well as having the opportunity to tour Kuwait and South Africa, performing in the Cape Town Opera House. He completed a Masters degree in composition at Goldsmiths College, London and there, became interested in the study of electronic and noise music, exploring how use of technology hacks and self-built patches could influence his own sound design and music. At this time, he could also be found performing as a DJ across London and Europe, with a catalogue of electronic releases hugely inspired by works of contemporary techno and sonic artists – influences that are clearly apparent in much of his music and sound design today.
In 2017, Alexander became a member of the newly-founded international collective, Miro Shot, in which he plays his electric violin and Eurorack synthesiser, as well as composing orchestral arrangements. In May 2017, the band held a three-day residency at the Institute of Modern Art, in Amsterdam, in the world’s first multi-sensory live VR and Mixed Reality concert. This was followed by a London preview at BAFTA, Piccadilly, an exclusive one-day residency at Somerset House and at La Gaïté Lyrique, Paris, as part of the all-night Nuit-Blache festival. Miro Shot have developed a live show, which embraces the participants in a multi-sensory experience, controlling parameters such as wind, temperature, and even touch and enabling audiences to switch between the real and the alternated virtual worlds. The band is completing their debut album signed to All Points, and published by Warp.
Alexander also works regularly with the Theatre of Debate and has composed scores for their productions Stunted Trees and Broken, Hungry, People Are Messy and People Like Us, which have toured schools throughout the UK as well as including performances at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
“Every participant is treated with careful, considered respect… This is helped by Alexander Parsons’ impressive score, mixing tinges of the music the kids listen to with his own emotive arrangements. Six episodes of hope, just when it’s needed”.
Julia Reside (on American High School), The Guardian