Cellist James Alexander is a performer, composer, improviser, and ethnosonicologist. Winner of the Eight-Minute competition at the inaugural Asian Classical Music Initiative International Conference, he takes an active role in connecting the fields of musicology and ethnomusicology. He commissions/premieres cello works and curates musiartistical events–mostly recently with artists from Lawrence, KS and the Spencer Museum of Art on Murmurations, a public programming series focused on developing the individual and collective sense of improvisation between museum and community. He has presented his doctoral research, The Influence of Vietnamese Traditional Music on the Cello Works of P. Q. Phan, Vân-Ánh Võ, and Nhật Minh Nguyễn at colleges and conferences around the United States. He has premiered cello works by Tyson Davis, Julio Elvin Quiñones, and Jane K (Evgeniya Kozhevnikova); he has collaborated to produce music with Woulg, Jack Herscowitz, and Chase Chandler; and he has written music for Kip Haaheim, Alize Francheska Roznyai, and members of International Contemporary Ensemble. He has also played percussion and electric guitar in bands led by Susie Ibarra, Elliott Sharp, and David Sanford. James is Director of Orchestras for Muskegon Public Schools and adjunct professor of cello, world music, and introduction to the arts for Lake Michigan College.

Solo and chamber music performances have taken him to festivals such as Green Mountain Summer Music Festival, Kinhaven Young Artist Seminar, Kutztown Summer Music Festival, Walden Creative Musicians Retreat, Decoda Chamber Music Festival, the inaugural Chosen Vale Seminar for cellists, and New Music on the Point. He is substitute principal cellist for the Holland Symphony Orchestra and substitute assistant principal for the West Michigan Symphony. 

A dedicated teaching artist, James is an alumna of Teaching Online: Step by Step, an online certification course provided by Lake Michigan College. He is tasked with the special assignment of creating an online world music course for LMC by mid-Spring 2023 semester. During the summer, he teaches History of Rock, World Music, and Music Appreciation online. 

James earned a D.M.A in cello performance with a cognate in orchestral conducting summa cum laude from the University of Kansas and has a graduate degree in cello performance from Western Michigan University. His principal mentors have included Sara Cumming, James Fiste, Bruce Uchimura, Carolyn Watson, Kip Haaheim, and Hannah Collins.