Artistic Director & Co-Founder — Conductor
Alex Deng is an American conductor, composer, violist, and arts advocate whose work sits at the intersection of symphonic music, civic leadership, and public affairs. As the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the San Gabriel Valley Symphony, Alex leads with a mission to reimagine what a symphony can be—expanding access, amplifying unheard voices, and using music as a tool for civic engagement. He views the orchestra not just as a performing ensemble, but as a mutual aid organization for the arts: responsive to community needs, built on solidarity, and grounded in cultural equity. In 2024, he was awarded the Create CA Arts Now Leader Grant for his contribution to music education advocacy in the San Gabriel Valley. Recently, He was awarded a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Legislature by Assemblymember Mike Fong (49th District) and State Senator Sasha Renee Perez (25th District) for founding the San Gabriel Valley Symphony and presenting its inaugural concert. In addition, he formerly served as Student Outreach Officer on Through The Staff--a 501C3 music education nonprofit providing virtual private lessons to underserved communities.

Founded in 2025, the San Gabriel Valley Symphony is a new professional regional orchestra based in Los Angeles County, just 10 miles east of Downtown LA. It brings together a coalition of civic leaders, professional musicians, and arts advocates committed to building a vibrant cultural home for the San Gabriel Valley. The orchestra is dedicated to community resilience, equitable access, and the transformative power of public performance. In their inaugural season, the SGV Symphony has secured partnerships with the city of San Gabriel, the city of Monterey Park, and was awarded a grant from the Monterey Park Healing Fund. Alex currently serves on the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse strategic planning committee with a sole mission to lead efforts in transforming the San Gabriel Valley into a cultural epicenter for the arts.

Alex made his international conducting debut in 2022 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, taking the stage in a sold-out program that featured the premiere of his original work Torch of Dreams, performed alongside music by John Williams. He has since conducted the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra premiering his piece, Sofia Philharmonic, and Vratsa Sinfonietta, among others.

As a composer and conductor, Alex has led numerous professional studio recording sessions for film and video game projects, working with ensembles such as the Northern Film Orchestra (UK), European Recording Orchestra (Bulgaria), Tokyo SoundLink and Budapest Scoring Orchestra (Hungary). He has conducted his original works as well as commercial scores, blending cinematic and classical idioms. His recent compositions include Victory, Love, and Farewell—a tribute to the victims of the Monterey Park mass shooting—and Winds of Solidarity, commissioned for the Stanislaus County Honor Band. As a freelance violist, Alex has performed with the Dream Orchestra of Los Angeles, LA Sinfonietta, and the Roudaki Orchestra under the baton of Shardad Rohani, Daniel Suk and Larry Livingston. He has appeared at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Aratani Theatre, and Segerstrom Center for the Arts, and currently serves as a string teaching artist at Alhambra High School. He plays on a 1942 Viola by Carlton F. Stanley.

Outside the concert hall, Alex produces large-scale live events for classical musicians and educators, and supports national touring productions across the United States. His arts administration experience includes internships with the American Youth Symphony, Boston Festival Orchestra, and Pacific Symphony working in marketing, public affairs and social media. Alex founded the Jazz on Main Street concert series in 2024, which brings high-caliber jazz talent to the San Gabriel Valley. In their inaugural season of Jazz On Main Street, Alex produced 10 succesful shows with notable concerts including Japanese jazz fusion, bossa nova, and straight-ahead.

Raised in a working-class immigrant family in Alhambra, California, Alex studied music and public policy at the University of Southern California. In his formative years, Alex Deng was active in local and state politics in California. He was awarded the Grassroots Alhambra scholarship in 2018 for his advocacy work in the San Gabriel Valley and the same year, he interned for Gavin Newsom's 2018 gubernatorial campaign. His dual background in the arts and civic leadership shapes every project he takes on—whether mentoring young composers, launching community concert series, or partnering with city governments to make orchestral music part of everyday life. Through the San Gabriel Valley Symphony, he is building a homegrown institution grounded in community, culture, and the belief that symphonic music can change lives.

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