Press Kit

Biographies

One line (25 words)

Alexander Lloyd Blake is a conductor, composer, and vocal contractor whose large-scale memorial works are written in collaboration with the families of people killed by injustice.

Short (100 words)

Dr. Alexander Lloyd Blake is a conductor, composer, and vocal contractor working across concert music, film, and television. He is the Founding Artistic Director of Tonality, the two-time GRAMMY Award-winning choral ensemble, and holds a personal GRAMMY nomination as co-arranger of Scott Hoying's "Rose Without the Thorns." His work Running From, Running To: A Musical Reflection on Ahmaud Arbery was released on the album Songs of Remembering (Bright Shiny Things, 2026). As a vocal contractor and conductor his credits include Whalefall, The Odyssey, Spiderhead, and Space Jam: A New Legacy. He holds a doctorate from USC.

Full (300 words)

Dr. Alexander Lloyd Blake is a conductor, composer, and vocal contractor working at the intersection of music, storytelling, and social justice. He is the Founding Artistic Director of Tonality, the two-time GRAMMY Award-winning choral ensemble known for using choral music to open dialogue around equity, healing, and human connection.

Blake's compositional work centers on large-scale memorial pieces written in collaboration with the families of people killed by injustice. His anchor work, Running From, Running To: A Musical Reflection on Ahmaud Arbery, was co-written with Ogi and created with Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, whose spoken words appear in the score. Begun during a residency at Copland House and supported by the MAP Fund, it was co-commissioned by The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and the Patricia Valian Reser Center for the Creative Arts at Oregon State University, where it received its premiere in May 2025. The recording was released on the album Songs of Remembering: In Memory of Ahmaud "Quez" Arbery (Bright Shiny Things, February 2026), performed by Tonality and Wild Up with soloists Angel Blue, Jamal M. Moore, and Ogi, and produced by Joseph Trapanese.

Blake is a sought-after vocal contractor, conductor, and arranger across film, television, and commercial work, with credits including Whalefall (20th Century Studios), The Odyssey, Spiderhead (Netflix), The Addams Family 2, Space Jam: A New Legacy, and Hulu's The Other Black Girl. As a studio vocalist he has sung on Us, The Lion King, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. In July 2026 he conducted the national broadcast of America's Block Party at the Los Angeles Coliseum. He holds a personal GRAMMY nomination as co-arranger of Scott Hoying's "Rose Without the Thorns," featuring Tonality and säje.

Blake was named one of Musical America's Top 30 Professionals of the Year and received the Louis Botto Award from Chorus America. He holds a doctorate in choral conducting from the University of Southern California.

Credential note for editors

Tonality is a two-time GRAMMY Award-winning ensemble. Alexander Lloyd Blake holds a personal GRAMMY nomination as co-arranger. He is not himself a GRAMMY winner, and "GRAMMY-winning conductor" is not accurate. On The Odyssey he served as one of the choir conductors, not the contractor. On Whalefall he served as both vocal contractor and conductor.