‘…international expert on Nikolay Medtner’. Katie Derham, BBC Radio3, In Tune (2021)

[on Alexander’s New Light on Nikolay Medtner] ‘…groundwork reading no pianist should miss.’ (Ates Orga, Russian Arts & Culture)

‘The playing of the Medtner sonata compares well with the very best recordings in the catalogue, including those by Hamelin, Tozer and Milne.’ Robert Beattie, MusicWeb International (2018)

‘Good to have [Medtner’s] Sonata-Ballade […] in a performance rivalling that of Hamelin’s. Karpeyev’s grasp of the structure of the piece is remarkable, enabling a real sense of flow and beauty.’ Colin Clarke, International Piano (2018)

Alexander is an international expert of the music of Russian composer-pianist Nikolay Medtner (1880-1951). His doctoral thesis ‘New Light on Nikolay Medtner: Edna Iles Medtner Collection at the British Library‘ is downloaded worldwide on the regular basis.

In 2013 Alexander took part in international conference ‘Medtner Family in the Russia and World Culture’ at the Glinka Museum in Moscow and organised Medtner Day, one-day festival dedicated to Medtner. For the first time in the UK Alexander organised two international Medtner festivals in London (2016, 2017). Events took place in the Royal College of Music, British Library, Pushkin House, City, University of London and Merchant Taylor’s Hall. World’s most renowned Medtnerians, professors Dmitry Alexeev, Christoph Flamm, Hamish Milne and Francis Pott, as well as younger musicians and musicologists from around the globe took part. For the first time in history, an international Medtner Study Day in English was held (2016). Russia’s People Artist Nikolay Lugansky was the festival’s Honorary Patron.

In 2017 Alexander have recorded Medtner’s Sonate-Ballade, Op. 27 for Claudio Records and in 2018 some of composer’s finest songs with internationally acclaimed Russian soprano Sofia Fomina. The CD was released by Chandos Records in 2021 to a great critical acclaim. In 2020 Alexander performed Medtner’ Second Concerto in London’s St John Smith Square (Young Musicians Symphony Orchestr, James Blair MBE, conductor). In 2021 an article about the same Concerto was published by the prestigious Olms Verlag as part of the festschrift Nikolai Medtner: Music, Aesthetics, and Contexts, edited by Christoph Flamm and Wendelin Bitzan.

Most recently, Alexander was featured in Channel 4’s ‘Great Canal Journeys‘ (Series 13, Episode 3), discussing Medtner with Dame Sheila Hancock and Gyles Brandreth, as well as playing an excerpt from Medtner’s Third Concerto. In 2023 Alexander latest Medtner  CD will be issued by SOMM Recordings.