Alex Craig 1946 - 2020
Alex Craig
March 26, 1946 April 18, 2020泭 泭 泭
Composer and pianist Alex Craig of Broomfield, Colorado died of a sudden heart attack on the evening of Saturday, April 18th泭while reading a book in his recliner.泭泭During his life he泭summited Longs Peak four times, and climbed Grays and Torreys Peaks and Mt. Bierstadt.泭泭He loved hiking the less travelled mountains and trails and took many photographs of sunsets, flowers and waterfalls.泭泭He was a fine cook and enjoyed trying out new recipes at dinner parties.泭泭He was a tremendous fan of science fiction, biographies of great composers and musicians, mysteries and J.R.R. Tolkien.泭泭He always had a book or two close at hand.泭
Alex was a part of the musical scene in Boulder from the mid-1960s when he began accompanying music students while he was an undergraduate at CU-Boulder.泭泭泭泭Before completing his degree, he took a detour to Korea during the Vietnam War, where he served in an Army band playing the baritone saxophone (a weapon of mass destruction, as he liked to call it).泭
Alex泭received a Bachelors degree in Music History (1972) and a Masters in Composition (1975), both from CUBoulder.泭泭His compositions comprise orchestral, choral, piano, chamber music, and over eighty songs.泭泭Alex held the position of Staff Accompanist at the CUBoulder College of Music from 1976 until 2011 and played for hundreds of auditions, recitals and concerts.泭泭He touched many lives with his gifts, talent and spirit. Whether composing for colleagues or making mix-tapes and CDs for students to inspire them or calming nervous young musicians backstage before their juries, he felt lucky to have been able to make a living doing something he loved making music.
A native of Colorado Springs, his private teachers included: May Fenlon, Max Lanner, Storm Bull, and Howard Waltz, piano; Ben Gahart and Don Vollstedt, organ; and Janice Elliott and Charles Eakin, composition. He coached with artists Aksel Schi繪tz, Dalton Baldwin, Gerhard H羹sch, and Martin Isepp.泭
He continued to accompany his wifes voice students and泭ASTER泭Womens Chamber Choir during his retirement years.泭泭Other projects included listening to all of the Bach Cantatas on the correct Sunday of the liturgical year, digitally transcribing all of his compositions and cataloguing his huge collection of CDs, books and DVDs.泭泭泭A fan of the quiz site Sporcle, Alex recently created twenty-six quizzes about classical music under the name of craigu.
He was preceded in death by his parents Augustus Cunningham Craig and Elinor Virginia (Kurth) Craig. He is survived by his wife of twenty-eight years, Christina Lynn-Craig, his sister Mary Katz (husband Jeff), his brother David Craig, nephew Roy Katz (wife Tanya, grandnephew Orion.) and niece Molly Katz.泭泭
A celebration of life service will be held at a later date.泭泭In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Alexs memory to the Longmont Humane Society, Foothills Animal Shelter or the National Parks Conservation Association.
Those interested in keeping his music alive may contact his wife for access to his musical scores. Contact her or .