Alex Craig
March 26, 1946 鈥� April 18, 2020听 听 听
听 听
听
Composer and pianist Alex Craig of Broomfield, Colorado died of a sudden heart attack on the evening of Saturday, April 18th听while reading a book in his recliner.听听During his life he听summited Longs Peak four times, and climbed Grays and Torreys Peaks and Mt. Bierstadt.听听He loved hiking the less travelled mountains and trails and took many photographs of sunsets, flowers and waterfalls.听听He was a fine cook and enjoyed trying out new recipes at dinner parties.听听He was a tremendous fan of science fiction, biographies of great composers and musicians, mysteries and J.R.R. Tolkien.听听He always had a book or two close at hand.听
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.听听听听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).听
Alex听received a Bachelor鈥檚 degree in Music History (1972) and a Master鈥檚 in Composition (1975), both from CU鈥揃oulder.听听His compositions comprise orchestral, choral, piano, chamber music, and over eighty songs.听听Alex held the position of Staff Accompanist at the CU鈥揃oulder College of Music from 1976 until 2011 and played for hundreds of auditions, recitals and concerts.听听He touched many lives with his gifts, talent and spirit. Whether composing for colleagues or making 鈥渕ix-tapes鈥� 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 鈥� 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酶tz, Dalton Baldwin, Gerhard H眉sch, and Martin Isepp.听
He continued to accompany his wife鈥檚 voice students and听ASTER听Women鈥檚 Chamber Choir during his retirement years.听听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.听听听A fan of the quiz site Sporcle, Alex recently created twenty-six quizzes about classical music under the name of 鈥渃raigu鈥�.
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.听听
A celebration of life service will be held at a later date.听听In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Alex鈥檚 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 .