BIOGRAPHY
Lauded for his “handsome, potent tenor and vivid, expressive delivery” (Dallas Morning News), New York City-based tenor Alex Longnecker specializes in Baroque concert works and vocal chamber music. He currently serves as a member of the Choir of Men and Boys at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in New York. Professional choral credits include the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, Apollo’s Fire, The Thirteen, The New Consort, Bard Festival Chorale, New York Virtuoso Singers, Dallas Bach Society, and the Verdigris Ensemble. Alex has recently sung operatic roles with American Baroque Opera Company, Opera in the Rock, Cedar Rapids Opera Theater, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, University of North Texas Opera, and the Tanglewood Music Center.
Alex’s 2024-2025 season highlights include debuts with Ensemble Altera in a program of psalm settings, True Concord Voices in concerts featuring American choral works and Mozart’s Requiem, and Voices of Ascension in performances of Palestrina and Victoria motets, as well as Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. He brings his best-loved Messiah solos to debut appearances with the newly-formed Hudson Baroque and the Hudson Valley Symphony Orchestra. Continuing his tenure with the St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, he sings on another album of Kenneth Leighton’s music and is a featured soloist in their concert of Bach’s B Minor Mass. Additional solo highlights include Mozart’s Requiem with the Iowa State Alumni Concert and an evocative performance of Lidarti’s Esther at The Jewish Museum, presented alongside a new exhibit of masterworks by Rembrandt and contemporaries illustrating the story of Esther. He continues his work with Collectio Musicorum, singing troubadour songs by Jaufre Rudel and others in a program exploring medieval poetic traditions.
Alex made his Lincoln Center solo debut with Yale Schola Cantorum and Juilliard 415 in Telemann’s Tag des Gerichts, under the baton of Masaaki Suzuki. Other recent solo engagements include full performances of Schumann’s Dichterliebe, lute song with Collectio Musicorum, Mozart’s Requiem with Blessed Sacrament Church in Alexandria, Virginia as well as Princeton Pro Musica, Mozart’s Vespers and Vivaldi’s Magnificat with the Greenwich Choral Society, assorted works with the Blue Hill Bach Festival, Bach’s Coffee Cantata with Berkshire Bach Society, Handel’s Messiah with the Yale Glee Club, Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion with the Dallas Bach Society, and Bach’s St. John’s Passion with UNT’s Collegium Singers, the premiere of Trevor Weston’s American Lamentation with the St. Thomas Choir and the Orchestra of St. Lukes, and Handel’s Dixit Dominus with The Manhattan Choral Ensemble. Alex has appeared in masterclasses with Dame Emma Kirkby and Jakob Lindberg, Stephanie Blythe, and Sanford Sylvan.
Alex can be heard as a featured soloist on recordings of works by Calvin Hampton with the St. Thomas Choir to be released this coming year and a self-titled album with the New Muses Project. Other notable recording releases include selected works by Poulenc, Purrington, and Van with The Thirteen, Frank La Rocca: Mass of the Americas with the Benedict XVI Choir under the direction of Richard Sparks, as well as additional albums with the St. Thomas Choir: No Small Wonder, Byrd: Sacred Works, and works by Kenneth Leighton to be released this coming year.
Alex holds a bachelor's degree in music education from Iowa State University, a masters degree in vocal performance from the University of North Texas, and a master’s in musical arts in early music voice at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, where he performed with the eight-voice Yale Voxtet. In his free time, he enjoys cycling around New York, watching Iowa State Cyclone and New York Knicks basketball games, hiking, pairing delicious food with wines, and wearing comfy flannel shirts.
